


Persona Sekirei Golden

by GilgameshKOH



Category: Persona 4, Sekirei
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, Harem, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-02-07 18:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12846627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GilgameshKOH/pseuds/GilgameshKOH
Summary: Before moving to Inaba Yu Narukami stayed with his uncle Hiroto Minaka. The day before he must leave he has an encounter that will alter the course of the Sekirei Plan and his life. Now after rescuing Kanji he comes home to find Akitsu and Haihane but for what reason has his uncle sent the two Sekirei? How will they change him and what affect will he have on the Black Sekirei?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4 / Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please constructive criticism only.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[4/10 Sunday Shin Tokyo, Teito Tower]

An alarm clock blared indicating that it was time for the occupant of the bed to get up; it did so for a few seconds before an arm silenced it. The arm belonged to Sixteen-year-old Yu Narukami who yawned and slid out of bed.

He wandered into the bathroom of the luxury apartment that he was currently staying in courtesy of his uncle whose custody he was in currently due to his parents having to move for their jobs again. He turned the tap on and splashed some water onto his face to fully wake himself up. Then he brushed his teeth and when he was done he stepped into the shower and turned it on.

Yu thought back about the past year that he'd spent with his uncle as the water cascaded down his face; it was more interesting than the rest of his time with other relatives. His freshman year in high school was ending now that 2011 had rolled around. He'd aced his tests, as usual, coming top scoreboard for his grade and also as per usual he'd made no friends of note, which wasn't that unusual seeing as he never really stayed in a place for more than a year.

Yu had also read his own file and most of the school counsellors had apparently noted down that he came across as quiet, polite, and calm for most situations and he also seemed to be emotionless and cold at times. That would probably explain why people were reluctant to approach him, then again he wasn't that sociable anyways. It came from never being able to make friends when he was younger. Other kids were reluctant to make friends with someone who could leave at any time.

After he'd finished washing himself Yu turned the shower off and took a towel to dry himself off. After getting dry and putting on his black jacket and grey turtleneck shirt and black pants.

He walked to the window and looked out at the city below, Shin Tokyo. The city which was, practically owned by his uncle Hiroto Minaka, the president of Mid Bio-Informatics better known as MBI, a powerful conglomerate founded by his uncle and two others nearly twenty years ago, their headquarters was based in Teito Tower at the dead centre of the city.

Minaka was his father's half-brother from a previous marriage on part of their mother. However, they did have a warm relationship despite this and the fact that his father was constantly moving around. Minaka had agreed to take Yu in for the year despite being busy running MBI and his top secret project.

"It's been nearly a year since I came here," Yu said to himself "Almost time to leave again as well. I wonder where I'll be going next"

He sighed and after eating some breakfast that he made himself he left the apartment. He knew there were some places that his uncle forbade him from going inside the tower but that didn't bother Yu in the slightest. He just needed to take a walk for a while.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After leaving the apartment he walked down a hallway and passed a door that was nearby. According to his Uncle his security force lived in what was the only other apartment on the entire floor. Minaka called them the 'Discipline Squad' or something like that, but Yu had never met them nor did he have reason to.

He stopped as he saw the elevator doors open revealing someone carrying a large stack of DVDs. The girl and the stack swayed as she tried to keep her balance, she stumbled left and right, desperately trying not to fall over. But despite her efforts she suddenly tripped forwards and all of the DVDs that she was carrying fell all over the place along with her.

Without the stack obscuring her face Yu saw that a slender girl who had bandages covering her form from the neck downwards that was covered by a tattered dark kimono, she had dishevelled grey hair, wore a studded choker, and narrow eyes; giving her a wicked, daunting appearance. Yet despite this Yu felt compelled to help her so he approached to help.

"Aw damn it" Haihane the Blue Sekirei cursed "Well none of them look broken. I hope they all still play, it would be a pain in the ass to have to go and buy more copies"

After she shook her head she began picking up the DVDs that had escaped from their cases putting them back in, luckily they were few in number.

"Here let me help you with that" a charming voice offered as a hand helped to stack up some of her DVDs

She looked up and saw a grey-haired teen wearing a black jacket. He knelt down and began picking up some of the DVDs that she dropped and she suddenly shook her head and did the same.

"Thanks so do you have name?" she asked

"Yeah I'm Yu, Yu Narukami" Yu greeted her

"Oh well I'm Haihane, I live in the other apartment with my squad mates," Haihane replied casually stacking the DVDs back up.

Eventually, the number of DVDs dwindled until only one was left. She reached for it but Yu did also and their hands met on the DVD and both retracted them quickly.

"Sorry about that" Yu apologised.

"Nah its fine" Haihane paused as she suddenly felt a wave of heat shoot through her body.

This wasn't good, she was reacting to him. But her Ashikabi had already been chosen for her. Even if Natsuo didn't care for any of them or was the one they were reacting to it didn't matter. He had been chosen by Minaka and that was that, also the Director had given express orders not to reveal anything about the Sekirei to his Nephew while he was staying here.

"Hey" his voice snapped Haihane out her trance "Are you alright? You look kind of red"

"huh?….oh…yeah, I'm fine , just a little dizzy is all" Haihane said quickly coming up with the best excuse she could think of.

Haihane stood up and noticed that DVD stack was only half as tall due to the boy who she was reacting to holding the other half, so she began walking Yu to her apartment hoping to get away as soon as possible before she did something she'd regret later.

"So you're really Captain Crazy's nephew?" Haihane asked trying to keep her mind off her reaction which didn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

"Captain Crazy?" Yu said with slight confusion before realising who she was talking about "Oh you mean my uncle. The sad thing is although I want to argue with you I can't because he's proven that he's…..well….not all there."

Haihane quirked an eyebrow with interest, not many really knew about the Directors personal life so it might be interesting to hear what he'd done so that even his own family thought that he was nuts.

"Oh and why do you say that?" she asked, "I thought that being around his family would get him to act normal or something"

"Sorry, no such luck" Yu said as neared the door to Haihane's apartment "Once when I nine our family had a big reunion party. He was the last one to arrive"

"Oookay," Haihane thought that sounded normal for the Director. Takami usually complained that Minaka was late to meetings so that wasn't unusual for him. Luckily the banter seemed to be taking her mind off of her reacting.

"Oh I'm not finished" Yu continued as they stopped outside the door "He was late, but when he finally arrived at the party riding on top of an elephant that he'd painted pink"

"You're kidding right?" Haihane gaped amazed that their Director who at least tried to act normal to people outside the company, could be so ridiculous in the presence of his own family.

"Nope, he even named it Dumbo after the elephant in the film he watched" Yu kept on going as Haihane snickered while opening the door and the two walked in "When he was asked about it, he said and I quote 'I was trying to train to fly so I could have my own personal flying elephant. But the magic feather trick didn't work so I decided to make it a pink elephant hoping he'd at least learn to float'"

Thankfully Haihane had reached the sofa and managed to drop down her DVDs onto it before she burst into all-out laughter. Yu put his stack of DVDs before Haihane's laughter was interrupted by a loud aggressive voice.

"Geeze Haihane, what the hell are you laughing at like a hyena?!"

The source of the voice was a girl wearing a kimono-like shirt with one sleeve missing; her pink hair was done in a side ponytail with two daisy clips. While she had the appearance of a cheerful, younger teenager Yu got the feelings that her appearance didn't reflect her personality.

"Oh relax flatty" Haihane prodded knowing that her squad mate's easiest button to push was the size of her chest or lack thereof "I was just talking with him-" Haihane pointed a thumb at Yu "about Captain Crazy. Apparently, he's even more abnormal than even we knew."

"DON'T CALL ME FLATTY YOU BITCH" Benitsubasa roared angrily "And second who in the hell is this?"

Stepping forward Yu introduced himself.

"I'm Yu Narukami, Minaka's my uncle" Yu explained sticking out his hand for her to shake after he put his own stack of DVDs down.

Normally Benitsubasa would have slapped the hand away but something stopped her. A wave of heat shot through her and it didn't take long before she understood what was happening, she was reacting.

"I'm B-Benitsubasa" she stuttered quietly as her reaction became stronger, this persona was without a doubt her Ashikabi. It seemed so cruel that she'd met the one she was destined to be with, only to remember that her Ashikabi was being picked out for her, regardless of whether she was reacting to them or not.

"It's nice to meet you" Yu replied as Benitsubasa finally got the sense of mind to shake his hand in greeting "Say I was wondering how it was that you knew that I was Minaka's nephew Haihane?"

"Oh right, well you've been the talk of the tower ever since you came." Haihane explained "Minaka never stopped bragging about you whenever he got the chance to anyone who'd listen. How you always got top scores, were brave, persistent stuff like that. Apparently, he keeps saying that it's proof that the gods favour his family or something like that."

Yu sweat dropped at hearing this and while he was embarrassed he wasn't surprised.

"The sad thing is, that sounds exactly like something he'd do" Yu sighed wearily "So I've gotta-"

Yu was interrupted by his phone suddenly ringing. He took it out of its pocket and answered it even though he didn't recognise the number.

"Hello?"

"Yu my boy I have something I want to talk to you about" Minaka's voice came through the phone "So please come up to my office immediately and don't dilly dally, ok? ok, toodles"

The call was cut off before Yu could even get a word in edgewise.

"Er….I better go see what he wants. See you later Haihane, Benitsubasa" Yu said a farewell as left the room.

"So what did you think of him?" a familiar voice asked surprising both Haihane and Benitsubasa who didn't realise that someone else was with them.

"Wait, Director what are you doing here?" Benitsubasa demanded

"I was nearby and couldn't help but notice you and 104 reacting to my dear nephew" he replied quickly.

Minaka didn't seem angry at the news of their reaction if anything he looked excited.

"Say didn't you just call him up to your office for something important?" Haihane pointed out "What are you going to do when he finds your not there?"

"Simple 104 I will use my secret elevator to beat him there" Minaka replied his voice not losing any of its enthusiasm as he ran to a wall began searching for something.

"Wait secret elevator?" Haihane said in confusion "What secret-"

She was cut off by Minaka finding the button and a pair of doors opened up in the wall revealing, to their surprise an elevator that neither of them knew was there.

"What in the- how long has that been there?" Benitsubasa demanded annoyed that the Director apparently had a secret elevator that opened straight to their apartment.

"Ever since this building was built." Minaka replied cheerfully "Anyway it seems my Nephew is even more special than I thought. He has the potential, truly I was right to call him to my office. He could be the one, THE ONE WHO WILL BRING ABOUT A NEW AGE OF THE GODS!"

With that bellowing proclamation, Minaka vanished as the elevator doors closed up to resemble a wall once more.

"And just when you thought he couldn't get any loonier" Haihane sighed sweatdropping

"I heard that" Minaka's muffled voice stated causing Haihane to flinch slightly.

"He's even more of a nut case than usual" Benitsubasa sighed

"I heard that too" Minaka's voice sang albeit a bit more muffled.

"QUIT LISTENING IN ON US YOU LOON" Benitsubasa yelled angrily shaking her fist in the direction of the elevator.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After some walking an elevator ride later Yu finally made it to his uncle's office. Where his secretary Natsuo greeted him.

"Ah, Mr Narukami. The President will see you now" Natsuo said motioning for him to go in.

"Thanks," Yu said and walked through the door.

The office that belonged to his uncle was pretty extravagant, to say the least. He was a slender, bespectacled man with tall and spiky white hair. His uncle was entirely wrapped in the colour white as evidenced by his pure white suit with a white shirt underneath, a pair of white pants, gloves and a white cloak.

Never let it be known that Hiroto Minaka only did things half way when he did something. Yu had been told by his parents that Minaka was basically an insane super-genius with a very charismatic personality. Which as Yu was quick to find out was true, his uncle had managed to talk him into doing certain things for him and he could scarcely remember the conversation or any objections he might have had. His uncle was simply that charismatic.

"Ah Yu my boy you're here at last excellent" Minaka exclaimed cheerfully "Please take a seat"

"So what was it you wanted to see me about Uncle?" Yu asked sitting down in one of the chairs that face Minaka's desk.

It was only then that Yu realised that he and his uncle were not alone. There were two women with one of them was standing near Minaka's side, while the other was leaning against a marble pillar that decorated the room.

The woman leaning against the pillar had long light grey hair tied in a ponytail and grey narrow eyes with a sword resting at her hip. She wore a tight black leather top, a miniskirt and stockings. Over her shoulders was a grey haori with a crest printed on it.

While she had a friendly smile on her face Yu couldn't help but get the feeling that there was something malicious beneath that smile of hers. Thankfully he'd learnt long ago never to judge a book by its cover, so he decided to keep an eye on her but he had no reason to be rude.

On his other side and a short distance away from her grey haired counterpart was a woman with short very light brown hair wearing a white dress with chains around her neck, wrapping around the top of her breasts and parted her bosom, with a black sash tied around her waist.

The second woman was starkly different by contrast she had a blank look on her face, one that looked cold and had eyes that were devoid of hope. She reminded Yu of a puppy that had been kicked a few times too many before being thrown out. Yu recognised it as the look of someone who felt they had absolutely nothing and no one; he recognised it because there times that he felt that way himself, but he had learned to deal with it. However, he feared that this woman might do something drastic.

"My boy tomorrow is the day you leave me, and so I believe that you are ready to know one of my company's greatest kept secrets" Minaka proclaimed making a sweeping motion with his hands "This lovely lady by side is Akitsu and she is a Sekirei, an alien being from another world that has come here to earth to find her destined partner and fight other Sekirei until she and her destined partner or Ashikabi are given permission to ascend, Well what do you think?"

A few seconds of silence passed before Yu finally spoke up.

"Uncle….have you been drinking?" Yu asked with a deadpan expression on his face.

This caused the grey-haired woman who was leaning against the pillar to chuckle to herself, meanwhile, Minaka's jaw dropped in disbelief at his revelation of his greatest secret being waved off by his nephew in such a way.

"Yu for someone so intelligent you're so narrow-minded" Minaka said after picking up his jaw after a few seconds "I shall give you proof, Akitsu show him and please stop snickering Karasuba"

The grey haired woman gave Minaka a glance at the sound of her name but otherwise didn't acknowledge him and continued chuckling.

"Yes sir" Akitsu stepped forward and cupped her hands

Suddenly out of nowhere a large chunk of ice appeared hovering just above her hands. There were few things that could shock Yu really, after all having to move around because of his and being passed from relative to relative allowed him to see things both very unusual and sometimes scary. So because of this combined with the fact that he was very intelligent, it was hard to truly surprise him anymore, now however just happened to be one of those times when he was, as evidenced by the way his eyes widened.

"So do you believe me nor or is another demonstration in order?" Minaka asked attempting to move his hand "What the? Why is my hand stuck?"

He looked down and saw that a layer of ice now covered his desk thus trapping his right hand under it. Minaka spent the next few moments trying to get it unstuck while the Grey haired woman kept chuckling at his misfortune.

"Alright, Akitsu seriously release my hand" Minaka ordered the brown haired woman who simply nodded and snapped her fingers causing the ice to shatter apart like glass.

"That was cold" Minaka whined in the childish manner that Yu had long since become accustomed too "Anyway this is what I wanted to show you, so what do you think?"

"Alright you raving idiot what the hell was so important that you had to disturb me?" an angry voice yelled cutting across any answer Yu might have had.

He turned to see a slender woman with grey hair and grey eyes storming in. If one didn't know any better they'd swear that she and Yu were siblings. She was wearing trousers, a black top and a white lab coat and had a scowl on her face as she stormed past Yu and slammed her hands and the clipboard that was in them on his desk causing some of the things on it to shudder.

"Come on hurry up I'm on a schedule here" the woman demanded, "The project can't wait you say so yourself and why is it so damned cold in here?!"

Yu noticed that she was choosing her words carefully, most likely due to his presence, in the room.

"Ah Takami you're here at last excellent" Minaka observed with delight "Relax my dear I did not, in fact, call you up here for no reason"

"Then what do you want Minaka?" Takami growled out impatiently "Hurry up I've got work to do."

"First I'd like you to meet my nephew Yu Narukami he's my brother's son" Minaka waved a hand in Yu's direction causing Takami to start looking him over he could tell that she was examining him warily.

"You can tell we're related because he gets top grades in all of his classes, he's logical, calculating, although he isn't as open-minded as I am about the universe and of course the impending age of the gods!"

"Please tell that means you're sane?" Takami pleaded speaking to Yu with a deadpan and long-suffering tone in her voice "We have enough insanity around here with just him"

"Well I like to think I'm sane but I really think I'd have to put a lot of effort into being as screwy as Uncle Minaka is." Yu joked.

This was met with another chuckle from the grey haired woman in nearby who had stopped a few seconds ago, Yu thought he saw Akitsu's mouth quiver just a tiny bit. A small grin crossed Takami's face even as Yu's words seemed to pierce Minaka like arrows. He seemed to grumble to himself quietly and Yu thought he heard the word traitor in his grumblings.

"I'm Takami Sahashi MBI's head researcher" she introduced herself

"Don't forget the one in charge of the Sekirei plan." Minaka piped in

"Minaka!?" Takami yelled with a slightly panicked tone

"Wait there's a Sekirei Plan?" Yu asked

"Of course there is my boy," Minaka said, "Where would the fun be if there wasn't a plan for the Sekirei?"

"Minaka just what is going on here?" Takami demanded "Why does your nephew know about the Sekirei or the Plan? Have finally lost what little sanity you had?"

"Oh calm down Takami," Minaka said placatingly, "It's his last day here before he leaves for Inaba and I wanted his last day to be memorable and what's more memorable than being getting proof that aliens exist?"

"Don't give me that" Takami growled, "You wouldn't have waited until now to bring him in unless…..oh no don't tell me that he's…."

"Yep you got it, he's an Ashikabi!" Minaka exclaimed with excitement "In fact, he had numbers 104 and 105 both reacting to him earlier, that's why I've decided to bring him in now. Isn't it fantastic I always knew that those with my genes were destined for greatness, and now I have irrefutable proof."

"Minaka's he's your flesh and blood you know as well as I do that the plan will be dangerous" Takami argued causing Yu to tense up wondering just what his uncle had in mind for him.

"Relax any relative of mine will be fine" Minaka replied, "Besides it seems that fate has planned for him to be the Discipline Squads Ashikabi instead of Natsuo, the whims of the gods are truly mysterious."

"The discipline squad?" Takami said with her eyes widening "And how do you plan for that, you said he's leaving tomorrow so how can he be their Ashikabi if he's not going to be here you idiot?"

"Takami I'm already way ahead of you" Minaka replied with a chuckle "He won't wing any of Discipline Squad Sekirei just yet. No they'll remain here for a few months and when my security upgrades are completed I'll keep the Sekirei in lock down until the plan is ready to begin"

As Takami and Minaka had their argument, although it was really more Takami yelling and Minaka cleverly dismissing her points, Yu found himself strangely mesmerised by Akitsu and before he knew it he had taken a step closer to her and found that he was only one step away from her.

As Yu tuned out Takami and Minaka he saw that the girl noticed his gaze and she seemed to blush before suddenly straightening up as her whole face seemed to turn red.

"Hey you've turned red are you alright?" Yu asked putting his hand on Akitsu's forehead.

He thought that she seemed rather cool to the touch, despite the large amount of blood rushing through her head but seemed otherwise fine, but then again he was no expert on alien biology besides, who knows how her species expressed symptoms of illness.

Akitsu however was feeling the opposite of sick. She felt a wave of heat that she'd only ever heard of shoot through her. She had been told that she was broken and as such would never be able to become winged and find an Ashikabi, but this feeling coming from deep inside of her was undeniable.

"Y-you are…."Akitsu trailed off, muttering something that Yu could not hear.

"Sorry, I didn't hear what you said is something wrong?" Yu asked

"My Ashikabi" Minaka and Takami were interrupted as Akitsu's lips made contact with Yu's and several pairs of translucent blue pillars erupted from out of her back, they looked almost like a pair of icy wings.

A small layer of frost covered the room after the wings faded away and the light died down. Yu felt stunned and really didn't know what to think, the grey haired woman in the corner had a look of interest on her face, and Takami was slack-jawed while Minaka looked ecstatic.

"He winged Akitsu? BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Takami exclaimed in disbelief "SHE WAS BROKEN BY THAT IDIOT RESEARCHER MONTHS AGO."

"Hahaha I told you that my Nephew was destined for greatness" Minaka yelled in an excited voice "BEHOLD TAKAMI WE HAVE WITNESSED A MIRACLE, A LITTLE BIRD WHO FATE DECREED WOULD NOT FLY HAS BEEN GRANTED WINGS BY THE GODS. TRULY THEY SMILE ON THE PLAN. IT'S A SIGN TAKAMI, A SIGN I TELL YO-"

Minaka's rant was silenced Takami slamming her clipboard into his face sending him crashing backwards over his chair.

"Shut up you raving egomaniac" Takami yelled massaging her temples to get rid of her headache

"What was that?" Yu asked after a few seconds of silence

"Why nephew of mine you have just given Sekirei Number 7 Akitsu her wings. That is to say, she has emerged or been winged, whatever you wish to call it." Minaka explained never losing his enthusiasm even for a second, in fact, he seemed to get even more passionate if that was possible as he stood back up and climbed onto his desk and pointed skywards "And now you are destined partners, you shall both compete in a story of love and war. AND IT SHALL BE GLORIOUS. A LOVE STORY THAT SHAKES THE EARTH AND PIERCES THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!"

Minaka was abruptly brought back to earth by a clipboard again a slamming into his head which bounced off of his desk and sent him crashing into his chair which in turn fell over. The scene caused Yu and Akitsu to sweat drop, while the grey-haired woman was trying to resist bursting into fits of laughter.

"He does this more frequently than you think," Takami said with a long suffering sigh as Minaka groaned and tried to pull himself up only to slip on the frost that covered the floor "You have my pity for being related to him"

"Thanks," Yu said still sweat dropping at his uncle's antics "Er….is alright if I get going?"

"Yeah, it's fine" Takami said "Just makes sure you don't talk about this to anyone. Got it? The are various militaries around the world that would do nearly anything to get their hands on the Sekirei and if you are as smart as Minaka brags constantly, then I don't need to tell you how bad that would be, do I?"

She didn't need to, while Yu didn't know why his Uncle had the Sekirei he could tell that if some military power got a hold of even one Sekirei and figured out how to replicate their powers then war would be the only result.

"Don't worry I swear I'll keep this a secret," Yu promised solemnly

"Ok thanks, but MBI will be watching just in case." Takami informed him "Just remember that."

Yu nodded before leaving the office, Akitsu made to follow him but was stopped by the sound of Minaka's voice.

"Not you number seven" Minaka said now properly sitting in his chair "You will see Yu again you have my word, but I need you to be patient. Understand he'll most certainly be back"

Akitsu reluctantly stopped following her Ashikabi despite her heart demanding that she ignore Minaka and follow her destined one. However despite how loud her heart was speaking her sense of self-preservation spoke louder reminding of the presence of the Black Sekirei.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[06/20 Monday, Inaba, Junes]

After spending taking Marie out again at her after school request Yu had gone back home and had been asked by Nanako if he could go to Junes to restock the fridge. So that was how he found himself at Junes shopping for groceries. He took a look at the list she had given him and saw that he had most of the groceries.

"Let's see" he mumbled looking at the list and then to things he had his basket. "It looks like I have everything we need, but it looks like we're having instant noodles tonight. Alright time to go pay for this stuff"

Yu walked through the crowds to the checkout and waited in line behind a girl who was wearing a dress, shorts and a pair of open sandals with glasses adorning her face. After she had paid for her items she began walking away but not before Yu noticed that a pink cell phone drop out of her pocket and onto the floor.

Yu quickly paid for his items and picked it up, and looked around hoping to catch sight of the girl and return her cell phone before she left without it. After a few seconds of looking through the crowds, he finally caught sight of her again walking down an aisle.

Yu began walking at a swift pace in order to catch up to her and return her cell phone, he could see her bag of groceries held in her left hand a purse dangling over her right shoulder. She fluidly made her way through the crowd of people that were shopping or looking through various items.

He saw her take a glance back in his direction and then she began picking up her own pace clearly he'd spooked her. Yu in turn walked a bit faster in order to catch up to her. After a few seconds of this he could see her glance back again and saw a nervous expression on her face and just before she reached the stairs she broke into a sprint. He jogged after her down the stairs.

Finally catching up to the girl, Yu got into the elevator that led out of Junes.

"Here" he said holding out her cell phone to her. You dropped this."

Yu noticed the shocked look on her face vanished and she seemed to go a little red before snatching it back.

"Y-You could've told me a whole lot sooner!" she stuttered out with embarrassment colouring her tone.

"My bad." Yu apologised a little taken aback by her response "I'm sorry about that."

It was only then that he realised that this girl was actually the idol Rise Kujikawa. He wasn't a fanboy so he didn't point out who she was nor did he ask for an autograph or anything. She came here in an attempt to be incognito so it wasn't really his business to tell everyone who she was.

"Well you did give it back to me instead of keeping it" the Rise said her tone softening "So thank you."

Suddenly the elevator reached the ground floor and came to a stop. Yu smiles at her as the doors opened and walked out of the elevator. He paused just outside of the threshold and looked back at her.

"By the way, that strap…" he said

"Huh?"

"It looks pretty tasty." Yu finished before leaving the store as the elevator doors closed behind him.

Rise took a look at her phone before realising that Yu was talking about her cell phone strap which was ganmodoki-shaped.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu took his shoes off as he walked into the Dojima residence through the front door.

"Nanako I'm back" Yu called as he walked into the living room and straight to the kitchen to put the groceries away instead of looking at Nanako who he was sure was watching the TV as she usually did when left alone.

"Oh hey big bro your friends from Tokyo are here," Nanako said cheerfully

This caught Yu off guard, he was fairly certain that he had not made any friends while he was in Tokyo, so he quickly whipped his head around and saw two people who he never expected to see again.

It was the surprisingly human looking alien girls Akitsu who he had 'winged' as Minaka called it and the grey haired one with bandage's cover most of her body who was called Haihane who was carefully taking off a pair of razor sharp gauntlets and putting them away into the box for safety. They were Sekirei if Yu remembered correctly. From what he had inquired the day before he had to leave, Akitsu had the ability to generate and control Ice while Haihane's speciality was with her gauntlets that had razor sharp metal scythe-like claws on each finger. But Akitsu was now wearing a uniform similar to the one Karasuba the swordswoman wore, grey haori and all.

"Hey Yu, it's been a while" Haihane greeted after securely locking the box her gauntlets were in "I was wondering when you'd get back, it's good to see you again"

"It's nice to see you again my Ashikabi" Akitsu greeted with a nod.

Yu was stunned, he had no idea what to say or think. Why were they here of all places? Why had his Uncle seen fit to send them now and perhaps most importantly, how on Earth had they persuaded Nanako to let them in?

"What are the two of you doing here?" Yu asked when he finally regained some semblance of mind.

"Look big bro they got us a new TV" Nanako said excitedly pointing to the new TV set that sat where old once did "Do you think dad will let us keep it?"

'Wait they brought a brand new TV with them?' Yu thought to himself 'But what for? Why bring a brand new TV with them '

"Your questions will be answered in just a moment" Haihane said with assurance in her tone "Just give it a sec."

All of a sudden the TV which had not been on spontaneously turned itself on and on the screen appeared his Uncle Minaka.

"CONGRATULATIONS YU!" Minaka yelled at the top of his voice "THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME FOR YOU AND YOUR DESTINED ONES TO BEGIN YOUR PATH TO ASCENSION"

"Hey I know you your Hiroto Minaka the president of MBI" Nanako said excitedly.

"How do you know him Nanako?" Yu asked surprised that his cousin was aware of his eccentric Uncle because his mothers and his fathers sides of the family didn't interact all that much, not because of any hostility, it was just that they had no reason to talk all that much.

"Sure he's on TV all the time" Nanako chirped "MBI is the biggest company in Japan so the grown up channels talk about him all the time."

"You see that nephew of mine, even children know of me I'm so famous" Minaka chuckled "Anyway I'm sure you have lots of questions but I'm a busy man so I'll give a basic rundown. I couldn't help but notice those murders that have been occurring down there in Inaba and so I thought that you might need some protection. Well that and this seemed like it would be an ample opportunity to see how Sekirei interact in an environment that isn't as heavily controlled or monitored by MBI as Tokyo is. What's even better is that I can trust both Haihane and Akitsu not to do anything irresponsible. Also no need to worry about money because I've provided them both with MBI VIP cards with an unlimited balance, so anything they want or need will be on MBI's tab."

"Wait what do I tell Uncle Dojima?" Yu asked the eccentric man after taking a few moments to process what Minaka had told him "He's a detective and he's not really the trusting type what am I supposed to say to him?"

"I'm afraid that's for you to figure out my boy, family or no this whole thing is still a secret" Minaka said with a bit too much cheerfulness for Yu's liking "Well I've got to go fate is calling me-

Yu could hear Takami yelling something in the background and she sounded less than happy.

"-to a hasty exit, toodles"

Before Yu could say anything more Minaka had vanished from the television causing it to become blank once again.

"This is going to be a long awkward explanation" Yu sighed to himself "Nanako can you promise not to talk to your dad about anything you just heard please? It's supposed to be a secret ok"

"Ok I promise" Nanako promised

She seemed to have taken what had just happened very well. Yu was still wondering how his uncle was able to hold a conversation with him through the new TV that Akitsu and Haihane had brought with them.

"How am I going to explain this to Uncle Dojima?" Yu asked sighing

He glanced at the clock and saw that it was only just now going 4pm and Dojima didn't usually come back until late so that should give him enough time to come up with a suitable excuse to tell him while getting acquainted or reacquainted in Akitsu's case with the two Sekirei that Minaka had dropped in his lap.

Suddenly as if on que the door opened and the sound of someone walking in were heard.

"I'm home early today you two" Dojima's voice said "I was able to dump some the work on Adachi so I…who are you two? What's going on here? Yu just what is this?"

_"Well Shit"_ Pyro Jack deadpanned in his mind.

" _This is going take some explaining_ " Lillim commented nervously.

" _Indeed_ " Titania agreed

Yu sighed wearily as he felt some of his other Persona's agreed with Pyro Jacks sentiment; it appeared that the world hated him.

" _Yeah good luck with that_ " Pixie said chuckling at Yu's misfortune

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

Silence reigned through the house as Yu struggled to think of something to tell his Uncle.

" _Better hurry_ " Pixie snickered " _Dojima looks like he's getting impatient_ "

'You're not helping' Yu thought at the unhelpful trickster as he quickly began thinking up an excuse even as Pixie snickered louder at his predicament and his other persona's bar Izanagi and few other serious ones, all joined in laughing at what they saw as a humorous situation.

" _Alright everyone quiet_ " Izanagi ordered " _Let him focus_ "

Izanagi was able to exude his authority over the other Persona's and they fell silent albeit with the odd snicker.

"So Yu who are they?" Dojima asked impatiently tapping his foot.

"This is Akitsu and Haihane" Yu said motioning to the respective Sekirei "They're my bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?" Dojima said incredulously "You expect me to believe that these two are Bodyguards? On that note what would you even need Bodyguards for? Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"Nothing like that it's just my dads brother is Hiroto Minaka the CEO of MBI" Yu explained sowing enough of the truth into the story to make it believable "You know how MBI has expanded recently. Minaka's worried that jealous competitors might try to coerce him by threatening family members. My parents and the rest of Dads relatives are secure so that just leaves these two with me."

"Do you actually expect me to believe that these two are bodyguards?" Dojima asked sceptically "They look too young for one."

Dojima chose his words carefully he'd learnt long ago in his line of business to be sensitive in uncertain situations like thi.

"That's the point; a bunch of men in black suits would attract a lot of attention and make people around town feel uncomfortable." Yu said continuing his half-truth which it was, technically as his Sekirei Haihane and Akitsu would be protecting him so Yu hadn't really lied "Haihane and Akitsu are young and can blend in easier than a bunch of guys in suits can."

"Hmmm" Dojima rubbed his chin clearly thinking whether or not to believe what he was being told "Alright but what are you going to do about school?"

"No need to worry Mr Dojima" Haihane spoke up with an exhausted tone "I'll be attending school with Yu and escort him when he leave's. Naturally one of us will remain here at home to keep your daughter safe as well."

With the mention of his daughter's safety being considered Dojima seemed to cave. Albeit with what seemed to be some suspicions.

"Alright, but what about expenses like food, clothing and other things?" Dojima asked "I don't think my salary will cover two more."

"Nothing to worry about Sir" Haihane replied "All our expenses will be covered by MBI and as compensation for allowing us to lodge here MBI will be covering all of your bills for the duration of our stay which will be the entire time that Yu is here."

"That's very generous of him." Dojima noted walking into the living room after taking his coat off "I didn't know Minaka was so giving. Then again he was difficult to read when I met him at the wedding between Yu's father and my sister."

"Yeah he is pretty unpredictable" Yu agreed with a nod.

"…Alright" Dojima said after making a thoughtful sound "But what about sleeping arrangements?"

"We can sleep in Yu's room." Akitsu said bluntly.

Yu had to fight down a blush as Haihane shook her head.

"What she means Mr Dojima" Haihane stated coming to the rescue before Dojima could say anything "Is that as professionals it's important that we remain with Yu as often as possible. We have strict disciplinary training so we can sleep virtually anywhere without the need for a bed or a futon."

Dojima thought about this for a few moments. What Akitsu said had caught him off guard, it was lucky that Haihane had interjected when's he did or things could have been awkward.

'Well at least things can't get anymore awkward' Yu thought to himself

" _One guy plus Two hot alien girls plus one bedroom_ **"** Incubus interjected **"** _Am I the only one whose done the math here?"_

'Scratch that it can get more awkward' Yu sighed internally 'At least no one else can hear him'

" _Be quiet Incubus_ " Titania orderedwith an exasperated tone.

" _Indeed you're annoying_ "Rakshasa growled agreeing with Titania.

" _Alright then I'll give you the answer everyone so listen to Professor Incubus_ "Incubus chuckled apparently intent on going there. " _One guy plus 'Two' hot alien girls plus 'One' bedroom equals Bow Chicka Bow Wow_ "

A collective groan of disgust at incubus's antics came from the other personas and not just the female Persona's but the males as well.

" _Be silent you perverted fool_ " Izanagi ordered.

Yu heard a loud clanging coming from the part of his mind where his Personas stayed. He also heard one or two of them wincing. Izanagi never did have much patience for the perverted Persona.

" _Ow! Damn it, what was that for?_ " Incubus whined

" _I told you to be silent_ " Izanagi said commandingly.

" _This is not the time or place for this_ "Ara Mitama growled " _Be silent so we can get this out of the way already._ "

"Alright then" Dojima conceded however Yu could still see a look of suspicion in his eye "I can trust not to try anything can't I Yu?"

Yu nodded wordlessly.

"Good" Dojima said also nodding "Otherwise you'll find yourself sleeping on the couch down here by yourself. Am I clear?"

"Yeah crystal" Yu replied quickly

"Alright then, you two go and get settled in his room." Dojima said "It's upstairs, the farthest door at the end of the hallway."

"Thank you Mr Dojima" Haihane said nodding at him making her way upstairs.

"Thank you" Akitsu said following Haihane up the stairs.

Yu quickly went after them, hoping to make sense of all this.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

As Yu got into his room he found Haihane sitting the sofa while Akitsu was sitting in a corner quietly reading a book that she had gotten from what Yu assumed was the bag she brought with her.

"Hey can I ask what's going on here?" Yu asked closing the door behind him after making sure no one was listening in. "Is Uncle Minaka really so worried about the murders that he'd send the both of you here?"

"Not really" Haihane said "Minaka's more interested in this experiment in the outside world thing really and he's pretty sure you'll be safe as long as you don't go on TV. Apparently he thinks the murderer is targeting local people who come on the TV and you're not the type to draw attention to yourself so you should be fine."

"Alright that make's sense" Yu nodded "So what about the Sekirei? Isn't the Discipline Squad needed to keep them protected and in line until the Sekirei Plan is ready to begin?"

"Well Minaka's having all of the Sekirei transferred back to the Island where they can be locked down but it's going to take a while that's why Karasuba is staying behind." Haihane explained "So no one gets any ideas until all the Sekirei are locked down. I know that Benitsubasa will be here in a couple weeks after her adjustments are finished and Karasuba should be here by September if everything goes alright."

Yu took a seat next to Haihane and starting thinking. If Akitsu and Haihane were going to be sticking with him then he had no choice but to tell them his own secret. It was inevitable that they would be fighting shadows and Haihane and the other Sekirei would be very useful for fighting the hordes of shadows that normally swarmed the gang in the TV world.

"Alright then. Akitsu, Haihane" Yu called the two Sekirei drawing their attention to him as he walked over to the small TV "There's something I need to tell and show you."

With that he stuck his hand through the TV screen causing the eyes of both of them to widen as they were amazed at what they were seeing. Yu then began his explanation about the TV World, Shadows and Persona's as well as the Midnight Channel and the murders.

When Yu finished explaining he waited for a few moments to let what he had told the two sink in.

"I'd think you were crazy" Haihane paused "If your hand wasn't still inside that TV."

Yu quickly withdrew his hand from the TV.

"So do you think you two can help me out?" Yu asked "Me and my friends could always use some backup fighting in the TV world."

"I'll fight for you anywhere master" Akitsu vowed standing up "You just have to ask"

"Just one thing" Haihane interrupted "Every Sekirei has a tracking chip implanted into them. We'll need to tell captain crazy everything or he'll wonder we're we've been going to that our tracking signals just vanish."

"Good point." Yu nodded "I'll get onto him this afternoon and talk to him about it. Hopefully he'll listen to reason if I convince him that my friends can keep a secret."

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu decided today was good day to talk to Marie again and maybe show her around more of the town. So he walked to the shopping district and sure enough there was Marie standing outside the door to the Velvet room.

"Hey, can I see a 'school'?" Marie requested putting emphasis on school as she clearly didn't know what a school was "You're going to one, right? I wanna go see what that's like."

Yu decided to take Marie to see his school and so took her through the Samegawa Flood Plain that lead to the school to show her around.

"You go to 'school' everyday, right?" Marie asked as they strolled along the plain in the direction of Yasogami "You don't get tired of it?"

"It's fun." Yu replied simply.

"Fun...?" Marie parroted "Oh, do they have a TV there? Can you watch "StarScandalz?"

Marie clearly misunderstood what Yu had meant but she seemed to be enjoying it regardless. Yu supposed he'd have to elaborate what school was for later. Personally he thought school was fun not only because of his friends but the looks the face's of people like Yosuke and King Moron when they saw that he'd gotten top scores on his exams beating everyone else in his year group once again.

As if on que Yosuke came strolling along from the opposite direction and walked up to the pair when he spotted them.

"Yo, partner! Whatcha do-Oh Hey Marie, It's been a while." Yosuke greeted the hat wearing girl "I heard that you'd been with Chie and Yukiko. So what are you guys doing? Out on a stroll?"

"I'm showing her the school." Yu explained

"Huh? You are?"

"Yeah she wanted to see what it was like" Yu elaborated

"Oh, I get it. Marie goes to a different school, after all, huh. Er, still...What could be special about our school?" Yosuke asked "Oh, well. All right, I'll join ya. Allow me to welcome you to Yasogami High! Heheh!"

"Can I go inside?" Marie asked staring at the building

"No problem! There's some committee meeting today, so the gate should be open. I mean, we can always say that we're showing you around the school!" Yosuke nodded

After going through the school gate Yu and Yosuke showed Marie around the ground floor, they went to the Nurse's office, the staffroom as well as couple the hallway that lead to the gym. After this they made their way up the stairs to the hall of the second floor and stood out classroom 2-2.

"And here's our classroom" Yosuke said motioning towards the classroom where the majority of their school time was spent "Pretty retro, huh? I guess you could call it cozy."

"It's so big" Marie said looked around with wonder

"Huh? It is...?" Yosuke said confused at Marie's surprise "Well, there's a lot of empty land here...I guess the school's pretty big if you count the fields and yards and stuff. What about where you are from Marie? Is it cramped, since it's in the city?"

"Me?" Marie was caught off guard by the question "It's tiny. I mean, it's a single room."

"One room!?...Seriously?" Yosuke exclaimed "Is it, uh...some kind of advanced placement class or something?"

Yu remembered that he had neglected to tell his friends about the Velvet Room. Frankly it had never come up in conversation and it didn't seem to be too important to tell them.

"I don't know. It's small, it's dark, and The Nose never says anything." Marie said clearly referring to Igor "Nobody ever says anything. It's boring."

"The Nose...? Is that, uh, what you call your teacher?" Yosuke asked curiously "A teacher who doesn't talk...Isn't that neglecting your job?"

Frankly Yu wasn't that surprised to hear that neither Igor nor Margaret said much. Igor came across to Yu as silent yet cryptic and Margaret came across as dignified yet mysterious.

"Hey, I want to see more" Marie demanded "There's still more to see, right?" It seemed that Marie was very interested in the school.

"She's as strange as she was last time" Yosuke commented "Then again, everybody I've gotten to know recently has been pretty much on the odd side, so I'm used to it. Haha..."

Yosuke and Yu decided to take Marie to the rooftop of Yasogami high where the gang usually spent their time.

"…And this is where we hang out" Yosuke told her "What do you think? Isn't this a great place to spend your youth?"

"Youth?" Marie questioned "How does someone spend youth? Give me an example."

"An e-example!? Well, you know, um...building friendships, sharing your concerns, confiding in each other...stuff like that?" Yosuke stumbled to find an example to elaborate to Marie his meaning "It's kinda awkward to have to put it into words..."

"...I don't get it. Do Green and Red do that, too?" Marie asked still confused.

"Of course." Yu confirmed.

"Why do you need to spend youth? Don't you have anything better to do?" Marie asked

"Y-You want me to say more?" Yosuke asked surprised "Er, well...I mean, it's fun. Not being in superficial relationships...Being with people who know the real you."

"...The real you?" Marie pondered on this.

"Being with people like that helps keep me from losing sight of who I am. Y'know, so I can face myself..." Yosuke explained before screwing up his face which went red with embarrassment "...Arrrrrgh! This is embarrassing! I can't say any more! Sorry!"

"Face yourself..." Marie muttered.

"Wondering about your "true self?" Yu asked

"No. I said it before, there's...no truth." Marie replied thoughtfully.

"Let's just...end this here. Please, forget I said anything." Yosuke half pleaded embarrassed "So, um...I know! You haven't seen the library yet, right!? We don't have all day, so let's get going!"

"Face your true self?" Marie muttered pondering on what Yosuke had said.

Eventually the two made their way to the library which Marie entered on her own as Yu pulled Yosuke aside.

"Hey Yosuke I need you to tell you something important" Yu told him

"Sure partner what is it?" Yosuke asked

"Not here it's too public." Yu stated "We'll meet at the food court after school tomorrow and go to the TV world. I'll explain everything there."

"Wait the TV World?" Yosuke parroted "Why can't we just talk at the food court like we normally do?"

"What I want to tell you is very secret and I can't risk anyone else overhearing us" Yu explained with a serious look on his face "It's very important so make sure your not doing anything. I think we'll be getting some back up for when we go into the TV world."

"Backup? Er….well that sounds cool but what do you mean by that?" Yosuke asked

"I promise I'll explain everything tomorrow in the TV world." Yu promised "Just trust me ok."

"Hey what are you doing?" Marie demanded now standing near the stairway "I'm hungry let's go eat something."

"Alright partner I trust you." Yosuke nodded in understanding "Now let's go to Aiya and grab some noodles."

Yu nodded and jogged with Yosuke to catch up to the impatient Marie.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Later that afternoon at the Dojima residence Yu had returned home and was eating dinner with Akitsu, Haihane, Dojima and Nanako.

"That concludes Rise Kujikawa's statement on her leave of absence from the entertainment industry." The agency spokesman on TV said "We're short on time, so if anyone has any remaining questions, we ask that you keep them brief.

"I'm Ishioka from Lady's Views" a magazine reporter introduced herself "It says here that you'll be recuperating – are you facing physical problems?"

"No" Rise denied "My health isn't an issue"

"Psychological problems then" the reporter jumped in

"Wha-?" Rise was clearly caught off guard.

"Rumour has it you'll be staying with your relatives, but isn't that in Inaba where the murders are taking place!?"

"Huh? Um…" Rise was clearly not on top of her game, the reporter was clearly managing to dig into her.

"Is it true that they run a traditional tofu shop" The reporter kept going with no regard for Rise at all " Will you be helping out with the family business!?"

"No more questions" the agency spokesman's said finally stepping in "This press conference is over! Clear the way please"

The press conference erupted into chaos as Rise vanished from the screen along with the Agency spokesman.

"Is Rise-chan quitting her job on TV?" Nanako asked

"Who knows" Dojima said "But if this is her hometown we'll have to deal with everyone who's trying to get a glimpse"

"Maybe she's just tired?" Akitsu suggested as she ate some noodles "It can't be easy being a teenage idol and along with the other stuff that she has to do can it?"

"You think so Aki-chan?" Nanako asked titling her head.

Akitsu nodded in response.

Haihane said nothing throughout the exchange, pausing as she thought about what her prospective Ashikabi had told and shown her as an advert of Rise advertising a weight loss drink came on.

"Rise Kujikawa huh?" Dojima muttered wearily "The one good thing about this town was that it had nothing of note, and now we get all of the buzz…What's going on?"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[6/21 Tuesday, Class 2-2]

"Alright shaddap you baboons" Mr Morooka yelled "It looks like we have another transfer student from the city. Come on in and introduce yourself."

The door opened revealing Haihane as Yu expected wearing a girls school uniform with her bandage's covering her body underneath.

"I'm Haihane nice to meet you" she said in a bored voice

"Well?!" Morooka yelled demandingly

"Well what?" Haihane asked

"What's your last name?" he growled

"I don't really feel like telling you" Haihane replied getting gasps of surprise from some students and snickers from others.

"That does it your going down on my shit list" Morooka yelled angrily "Now sit-down in that empty seat to Narukami's left."

Haihane walked to the seat and gave Yu a nod as she sat down which he returned.

"Hey Narukami" Yosuke whispered "Do you know the new girl?"

"Yeah we've met before" Yu said "We'll talk more after school"

"What but dude you can't…"

"HANAMURA SHUT YER YAP!" Morooka roared angrily before launching into his sermon with usual zeal.

"This is going to be a long day" Haihane yawned

Yu silently agreed with her as he tuned out Morooka's ranting about teenagers.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Soon school ended and Yu and his friends were now standing in the entrance of the TV world which as luck would have it was clear of fog due to it suddenly becoming foggy in the real world. He held a four paper's that his uncle had his people deliver after Yu gave him the full story he agreed that Yu could inform his friends about the Sekirei on the condition that they sign some NDA forms. They would also be watched by MBI closely to make sure they didn't break their agreements.

"Alright partner we're all here" Yosuke said as he the others were gathered near the stack of TV's that were the exit to the TV world.

"Yeah so what did you want to talk to us about that was so important?" Chie asked

"And why are those two here?" Yukiko asked pointing at Akitsu and Haihane who were also there with them

"Yeah what's going on Senpai?" Kanji added voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Hold on I'll tell you but first I need you guys to sign this" Yu then handed a form to each of them as well as a pen.

"What's this?" Yosuke asked reading the form.

"This is a Non Disclosure Agreement" Yukiko asked in realisation "What's it for?"

"What's going on Senpai?" Kanji asked "What's with the legal papers?"

"Well what I need to tell is a very strict secret" Yu explained seriously "But you see my Uncle won't allow me to tell you what I need to tell you without you signing those."

"What your uncle the cop?" Chie was confused "Is this some police business?"

"No it's something from my Uncle Hiroto Minaka-" Yu began but was interrupted by Yosuke.

"Wait Hiroto Minaka as in the CEO and president of MBI?" Yosuke yelled with shock.

"Woah he's like one of the richest guys on the planet" Chie exclaimed "Doesn't MBI own shares in Junes Yosuke?"

"Yeah like forty or fifty percent or something" Yosuke confirmed "He's your uncle? Dude how come you never said anything? And don't say…."

"You never asked" Yu put in quickly.

"Damn it" Yosuke cursed "Alright I trust you partner I'll sign this thing."

Yosuke put his pen to paper and signed the NDA handing it back to Yu. The others all signed their own forms and soon handed them back to Yu.

"Alright we've signed those things so what's the big secret?" Yosuke asked the question that everyone was wondering.

"Alright you all already know Haihane but this is Akitsu" Yu said motioning to the girl in question "Haihane and Akitsu aren't really human. They're actually beings that come from another world called Sekirei."

"Wait are you trying to say that they're aliens?" Yosuke said sceptically Yu internally sighed at the looks he was getting from his friends "Come on partner stop messing around."

"No I can prove it take a look" Yu point to the corner nearby and they all looked to see Teddie who was frozen solid in a block of ice with the kind of grin on his face that he had when he was hitting on Chie and Yukiko.

"It's Teddie" Yosuke said "I was wondering where that bear was. But why did you freeze him Chie and when?"

"It wasn't me" Chie shook her head in denial.

"Akitsu you can let him out now" Yu said

The gang looked at the girl in question who nodded and raised her hand towards the trapped Teddie and snapped her fingers. Almost at once the ice crumbled and Teddie was set free.

"Brrrr that was beary cold there was no need to give me such a cold shoulder Aki-chan" Teddie complained shaking the excess ice off his fur.

"I will only be with my Ashikabi" Akitsu said bluntly "No one else"

"What's an Ashikabi?" Yukiko asked

"I'll take this one" Haihane said her gauntlets on her hands "Ashikabi are humans with specific gene's that let them wing Sekirei like me or Akitsu. Winged Sekirei are more powerful than unwinged Sekirei mostly because they have access to more of their power and their Norito which is a special move like an ultimate attack that generally ends a fight. To use Norito an Ashikabi has to kiss their Sekirei and the Sekirei then begins their incantation to let their Norito loose."

"Alright so all Sekirei have superpowers? Like Akitsu can use Ice so what can you do?" Chie asked

"Well Akitsu is an element type Sekirei" Haihane explained "They're pretty but usually very powerful." Most of them are single numbers who are said to be a league of their own amongst the Sekirei. The more common types are Weapon and Fist Types. I'm a weapon type and I use my Gauntlets to fight."

"So does that mean that element types are more powerful than fist and weapon types?" Yosuke asked

"That depends entirely on the Sekirei in question." Haihane replied "Some weapon or fist types can't match an element type but there are several notable exceptions so it's not really a rule or anything. A Sekirei's power can increase through training and I've also heard that their power can increase if the bond with their Ashikabi is strong enough so its not fixed or anything."

"So how are Sekirei winged exactly?" Yukiko asked

"Like this" Haihane said turning to face Yu and taking her gauntlets off and putting them on the ground before putting her hands on his shoulders "You ready?"

"Er…..sure" Yu nodded.

Haihane kissed him on the lips and as their lips made contact several pillars of blue light that seemed to form a pair wings emerged from Haihane's back. They lingered for a few seconds before vanishing. This left Yu's friends in awe however as their lips parted one person in particular was slightly jealous. Haihane could see the look on Akitsu's face and playfully hugged Yu while making a blissful yet taunting face that Akitsu could see but Yu could not.

The Sekirei of Ice could take it no more and quickly wrench Haihane off and latched onto Yu's arm while Haihane gripped the other much to his dismay. He could only watch from the middle as Haihane sent a taunting grin at Akitsu who was taking the bait which caused the temperature to drop.

"Wow Senpai's the man" Kanji muttered

"Dude I don't know whether to be jealous or feel sorry for him that two super powerful alien beauties are fighting over him." Yosuke put in.

"Put a sock in it Yosuke." Chie sighed

"Hey Sempai!" Kanji yelled stopping the two Sekirei much to Yu's relief "So what's with those NDA things? Why did we need to sign that?"

"Well my Uncle is the one who's keeping the Sekirei protected" Yu explained

"Protected from what exactly?" Yosuke asked earning him a kick to the gut from Chie "Gah! What was that for?"

"Shut up and let him speak jeez Yosuke" Chie said glaring at Yosuke who held his stomach in pain.

"The Sekirei all have some type of Super Power. The Fist Type's for example are strong enough to punch through solid steel." Yu continued "And the Weapon Type's are better with their weapons than any human on earth. Then you the Element Type's like Akitsu they're rare but usually very powerful. Can you imagine what would happen if someone like a criminal got hold of even one Sekirei?"

They all stood and thought about it for a moment before grimace's crossed their faces indicating that they understood.

"Those are some scary images." Yosuke said "A criminal would be able to get away with anything with a Sekirei under their control and the cops wouldn't be able to stop them."

"Man, what about the government or the military?" Kanji asked "Those asshole's would probably cut them up just to see if they could give their people powers too. If not then they'd just send 'em to war with other countries and shit."

"That's why we had to sign those papers wasn't it?" Yukiko asked rhetorically "To make sure we wouldn't tell people who'd exploit them."

"That's right" Yu nodded "You see my Uncle Minaka is the one who discovered the Sekirei. Long story short he's keeping them protected from governments and militaries that would exploit them. I'm not going to lie and say my Uncle's a saint but he's a better choice than those who would start world war three because they had a super powerful alien on their side. So please, can you all promise to never speak to this of anyone outside our group?"

Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke and Kanji all looked at each other before nodding and looking at Yu.

"Don't worry Sempai this secret's safe with us" Kanji vowed with a clenched fist.

"What about you Teddie?" Yu asked looking at the bear.

"What about me Sensei?" Teddie asked pointing to himself.

"Your part of our group too so I need you to promise as well." Yu said with a smile

"I promise too" Teddie nodded "I'll never tell anyone, not even if someone tries to make a rug out of me, you can count on me sensei."

Yu smiled as he knew that he truly made friends he could count on. A sudden crashing shook him out of his thoughts and he turned around to see Haihane dodging Ice attacks from Akitsu whom she was teasing.

" _Wow cat-_ " Incubus piped up

'Don't you finish that' Yu interrupted the perverted Persona wearily 'I don't need this right now'

" _Alright fine but can I just say four words?_ " Incubus half asked half whined

'I know I'm going to regret this but fine' Yu said not in the mood for Incubus whining.

" _Bow chicka bow wow_ " Incubus said quickly and unrepentantly.

'Izanagi' Yu sighed wanting a moment of peace.

" _With pleasure_ " Izanagi said

A loud zapping of electricity echoed from within Yu's mind causing Incubus to give out cries of pain. There were times that Yu thought he was a case for an asylum.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After leaving the TV world Yu put the signed forms in his bag and followed everyone to the food court where they continued discussing the murder case. Haihane on the other went home taking Yu's bag with her.

"Are you serious Yukiko?" Yosuke asked the Amagi girl "You know Rise's family?"

"Well the news mentioned a traditional tofu shop" Yukiko explained "And I'm pretty sure that they mean Marukyu"

"Marukyu?"

"Marukyu Tofu. Our inn was serving their tofu until recently." Yukiko said

"Oh, that place in the shopping district! I pass by it all the time." Yosuke realised "Wait, does that mean I can meet Rise if I go to her tofu shop!?"

"Hey, aren't we getting a little side-tracked from the point here?" Chie intervened "Besides, did you forget about the murders!? You're the one who said the connection between the victims might be the TV! She could be the next target!"

"C'mon, it's not like Rise started showing up on TV just recently." Yosuke said "Also, how could Rise be connected to the incidents so far?"

"I wondered the same thing, so I did some research." Yukiko stated "It seems that she had no personal interaction with Ms. Yamano. They've just been on the same show once or twice."

"She's been an idol for a while now, but she's the talk of the town, thanks to the news last night." Chie said "And she is moving here, after all."

"So, if our assumptions are correct, she fits the pattern… She'll probably be targeted next.  
And if she is, that narrows down the killer's methods even further." Yosuke nodded

"Alright so what does that all mean?" Kanji asked with confusion.

"Kanji listen real carefully…" Yosuke sighed "If whoever's behind the killings does go after Rise then we're right the killer is targeting people from here who end up on the news."

"It'll also mean that he's not targeting people connected to Ms Yamano's murder." Yu put in taking a milkshake from Akitsu who had returned from ordering drinks for both of them.

"Ohhh… Yeah, okay." Kanji nodded in understanding

Akitsu took a seat next to Yu and began to drink her milkshake as the conversation went on.

"But we still have no idea what the killers motive is on that we're totally clueless" Yosuke sighed wearily.

"Well maybe this guy has some sort of grudge against us" Kanji suggested putting his hand his chest "I mean I know for a fact that there's a shitload of people that hate my guts. So how about you Yukiko is there anyone you might have pissed o-"

"Never" Yukiko said firmly.

"Well either way we can be sure that Rise Kujikawa is real danger" Yu interrupted putting down his milkshake which he had been drinking.

"So let's stop by Marukyu Tofu tomorrow then" Yosuke said "Purely to keep Rise safe of course."

"Yeah you totally have no other motive Yosuke" Chie snorted

"What the hell does that mean?!" Yosuke demanded standing up and glaring at her angrily.

"You heard me!" Chie yelled equally as angry.

"Hey guys-" Kanji stood up to end the argument between the two when Yu put a hand on his shoulder and stood up as did Akitsu.

"Let's just leave them be" Yu said and began walking away with Akitsu sticking closely to his side.

"Yeah I need to get going" Yukiko said also leaving "Let's go home to together Kanji"

"Ok Sempai" Kanji agreed.

The four promptly left Chie and Yosuke to their argument alone in the Food Court.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu had decided to follow Yukiko at her request to the Flood Plain. She had briefly swung by the Inn and had a boxed lunch with her that looked delicious to his silent relief.

"Don't worry its good" Yukiko reassured him with a slightly uncertain tone.

' _It does look pretty good'_ Titania said ' _but looks can be deceiving but still it's best not to hurt the young lady's feelings'_

Yu decided to simply go with it and shovelled some of it into his mouth. To his surprise it was good.

' _Wow she's certainly improved'_ Orochi commented.

"Is it good? Really? Thank goodness...Er, well of course it is..." Yukiko stuttered "Half the cooking was done by the head chef...He took over again."

Yu could see that Yukiko looked slightly ashamed of this admision

"But he told me I've gotten a lot better!...I'm also thinking of continuing my studies for a job license. I don't plan to leave anymore, but I thought I might as well. I'm glad I realized sooner...If I'd struck out on my own, I know I would have regretted it." Yukiko continued on a fire in her eyes "I wanted to become completely self-sufficient. But I think I was being presumptuous. I have the inn, I have my family, I have the waitresses and chefs...I am who I am now because I was raised by such a kind group..." Yukiko smiled "When I think of it that way, my problems aren't just my own. That's why...I'm going to stay here. By my own will."

"Good luck." Yu said sincerely.

A look of surprise crossed Yukio's face when she saw a ghostly Konohana Sakuya appear in front of her. A white light covered her and when it died down she had changed completely. Ascending into Amaterasu, awakened by Yukiko's strong will to overcome and accept her weakness.

"This is my new power?" she gasped "The power you've shown to me...Power I will treasure. I want you to have this."

She handed Yu what looked to be a Shrine Charm.

"It's a charm from that shrine...To protect you." Yukiko explained

"Thank you." Yu thanked her sensing power coming from the symbol of their bond.

"I think of you as an irreplaceable friend. No matter how far apart we are, even if we never meet again, that feeling will never change. You're dear to me."

Yu could feel Yukiko's pure, simple emotion. He could feel a strong bond between him and Yukiko. Then he heard the voices of the Persona's of Priestess Arcana speak to him.

**Thou art I…and I am thou…**

**Thou hast established a genuine bond…**

**These genuine bonds…shall be your eyes to see the truth.**

**We bestow upon thee the ability to create Scathach, the ultimate form of the Priestess Arcana…**

"I've never known any boys who I could call close friends. I'm very happy...Let's talk, shall we?" Yukiko asked smiling

Yu spent a long while talking with Yukiko while eating the boxed lunch that she'd made for him

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

In Yu's room the clock was about to strike midnight. He walked over to the curtain and sure enough it was raining. He turned and sat down on the sofa on cue, the TV flickered to life.

Yu squinted as he tried to make out the blurry figure. He could tell that it was a girl and she seemed to be wearing a swimsuit from the looks of it however before he try to make out more details of her the screen instantly went dark.

A few seconds later Akitsu and Haihane walked in.

"So that's the Midnight Channel huh?" Haihane yawned tiredly "Although it was fuzzy she did kind of look like Rise Kujikawa from what I saw on the TV downstairs."

"Then I'll suggest to the others that we visit the Tofu shop tomorrow after school" Yu said

"Alright well I'll stay here and hold down the fort" Haihane said flopping onto her own futon.

Yu nodded stared at the blank TV in the thought about the next day for a few minutes before going to sleep himself. Akitsu turned the light off and stared down at her Ashikabi.

'I need to fight for him. My Ashikabi needs me' she thought to herself 'But what if he finds out? If he does then….he might throw me away. I have to keep this to myself he can't know I don't want my Ashikabi to view me as useless. So I'll fight as hard as I can so it won't be necessary and he doesn't have to know.'

Akitsu tried to comfort herself with thoughts of fighting hard as she drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
> 
> [-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[06/22 Wednesday, Class 2-2, Yasogami High, Inaba]

The next day after classes had ended; the team had gathered together and were discussing what they had seen on the Midnight Channel. Haihane was napping on her desk waiting to leave and go home.

"I'm telling you guys that was definitely Rise" Yosuke said insistently.

"How can you be so sure?" Chie asked suspiciously "The image looked too fuzzy to me to get any details out of it."

"I'm totally sure" Yosuke insisted "With those hips, that sweet rack and those beautiful legs that go on forever."

Yosuke then looked at Chie's own legs before a disappointed look covered his face.

"Hey! If you don't like my legs, then don't look at them!" Chie yelled blushing and covering up her legs

"Narukami, what do you think about this?" Yukiko asked

"Her legs are fine." Yu replied honestly

"Ah!" Chie's blush deepened at the statement.

"What? No!—!" Yosuke said shocked "…Dude, on this, we disagree."

A vein bulged in Chie's head for a second before she kicked Yosuke in the stomach sending him flying off the desk he sitting on.

"Jiraiya!" she yelled.

This sent Yukiko into a giggling fit about Chie invoking the name of the wrong Persona.

"Hey guys are you taking this seriously?" Kanji asked with a sigh,

"We are" Yu and Chie said in unison.

"Then that Tofu shop, let's swing by." Kanji suggested.

"Good idea but Yukiko and I have to go to faculty officer first so we'll catch up with you later" Chie explained

"Ok then let's go" Yosuke said excitedly as he finally recovering from Chie's kick.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[Shopping District, Inaba]

"Just so you know, this is all about the investigation. We can't get all hung up on meeting Rise," Yosuke said as the three guys and Akitsu walked to the tofu shop.

Haihane had gone home as she usually did while Akitsu had been waiting outside the school gates after school had ended.

"Uh huh, and who are you trying to convince me or yourself…?" Kanji asked with a scowl.

Eventually they reached Marukyu Tofu however there were a bunch of students from Yasogami there taking pictures of the building with the cameras in their cells.

"Man…there's a lot of freaky fans here…" Yosuke complained.

"The same thing could be said about us…" Kanji pointed out.

When crowd cleared out the four approached but paused when they saw a sign on the front of the store that read 'Out of tofu…'

"WHAT?! I came all the way to see Risette and it says they're out…?!"

"What's the big deal, I thought you were allergic to the stuff…?" Kanji said.

"It's the principle!" Yosuke said. "I came here to see Risette and I'm not leaving!"

Then he opened the sliding door and barged in.

"Hello? Anybody in here?" Yosuke asked weakly.

Out from a back room a girl came out wearing a white apron over white trousers and an orange shirt. She had a white scarf over her head.

"Didn't you guys read the sign…? We're out of tofu…?"

"It's Risette, It's actually her…" Yosuke said with disbelief.

"Say, you Rise?" Kanji asked.

"Just straight out with it huh?" She said, scratching her ear and looking down, before she noticed Yu "Hey it's you from the other day…"

"Hi," Yu greeted.

"Dude, you know her already? No fair…" Yosuke whined.

"So are you here to get some tofu…?" Rise asked.

"Eight gamnodoki please." Yu ordered.

"Eight gamnodoki it is" Rise sighed wearily.

"Chick's got a real attitude," Kanji muttered.

"You're one to talk," Yu replied.

Yosuke meanwhile was admiring Rise's rear as she got the gamnodoki…

"Oh…I'm so glad we came…" Yosuke said with a cat like grin on his face "Our mission is accomplished."

"We still have stuff to do." Kanji said shattering Yosuke's daydreaming.

"Huh?" Yosuke said.

"Has anything unusual happen here lately?" Yu asked getting to the point.

"Oh, good call Partner." Yosuke said.

"What like a stalker…?" Rise replied.

"Yeah, have you heard of something called the Midnight Channel?" Yu asked.

"You mean that thing on TV last night? Yeah I saw it…" Rise said.

"You actually watched it?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah, but the girl on TV wasn't me… I've never worn a bikini like that and her boobs were larger than mine…"

"Oh yeah…" Yosuke said, looking at Rise's chest.

"Down, boy…" Kanji said.

"Look there's a really good chance that whoever appears on that gets kidnapped." Yu warned as politely as he could

Rise inhaled in shock.

"Look I know it sounds weird, but we're not lyin' or yankin' your chain." Kanji explained

"What are people doing around here? Beat it." A familiar voice said from outside.

Yu, Yosuke, and Kanji tensed up, albeit for different reasons. Akitsu however did not tense up instead keeping her face expression blank as she kept her vigil on her Ashikabi.

"Excuse me? We…" Another voice said as he entered. It was Adachi. Behind him was Dojima…who visibly started at seeing four boys and a girl with Rise.

Dojima stared at all of them. Yosuke and Yu looked uncomfortable while Kanji was facing away.

"Hi… How's it going?" Yosuke said, scratching the back of his neck.

"What are you all doing here?" Dojima asked in a displeased, almost accusatory tone.

Kanji had been looking at Dojima, before facing away a second time.

"Kanji Tatsumi…" Dojima said in a suspicious manner noticing Kanji for the first time.

"We're here to get some gamnodoki…!" Yosuke nervously laughed. "We're gonna go now…"

Yosuke put the money into Rise's hand and the four quickly left escaping Dojima's scrutiny.

"I'm Detective Adachi of the Inaba Police Department…" He said holding up his badge. "We have a few questions for you…"

"You're a detective?" Rise asked.

"Look, I'm sure you've heard, but this area has been a little dangerous lately…" Dojima said. "So…what made you decide to take your break here?"

"It just seemed like the best place…" Rise said looking uncomfortable at the question.

"I'll be honest…And I don't mean to scare you or anything but…" Dojima said.

"There's a chance I'll be kidnapped, right?" Rise said bluntly.

"What?" Adachi said.

Dojima's suspicion was aroused and he raised an eyebrow.

"Those guys who just left warned me that might happen…I'll be careful, okay?"

"Really? They warned you about that…?" Adachi said.

Dojima looked even more bothered by this knowledge.

"I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse me, I have more stuff to do…" Rise said.

"Wait, we have more questions…" Adachi said but she ignored him and went into the back.

The two detectives went to their car; Adachi was looking at a poster of Rise dressed in a policewoman's uniform that was being used to drive up female recruitments into the police force. It said, "Protecting today so we can have a safe tomorrow…"

"Well, since she's in town we could have used some help from the top brass at the prefectural office to help out…" Adachi said… Then he noticed something was bothering Dojima. "What is it?"

"I came to warn Rise based off a gut instinct without any hard evidence… How could a bunch of high-schoolers without the inside scoop figure it out and beat us to it?"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

A few hours later after Dojima and Adachi had left Yu, Yosuke, Kanji and Akitsu returned to keep an eye on Rise. Sure enough she walked out of Marukyu Tofu she was wearing a pink sleeveless shirt over a gray t-shirt and had blue shorts and platform sandals on.

"What are we stalkin' this girl for?" Kanji asked.

"Because…if we stay in the shadows like this, then maybe we can find the guy who's after her…" Yosuke said.

"Be on the lookout for any suspicious characters…" Yosuke said.

"Senpai, the only suspicious characters are us…" Kanji pointed out looking at Yosuke like he was an idiot.

"What exactly are you four doing out here?" Chie said.

"You look quite suspicious," Yukiko said.

"Are YOU the killer?" Yu asked Yosuke with a deadpan look.

"Piss off!" Yosuke said with annoyance as he sweatdropped.

Rise stopped off at a magazine stand and flipped through a magazine. Soon everybody was behind a car and across the street. Aika arrived with food after Yosuke had gotten hungry and had taken everyone's orders.

"Here you go," Aika said.

"Wow! You do deliver anywhere!" Yosuke said.

"Just leave the bowls when you're done," She replied.

"I had the extra-large," Kanji said.

"Roast pork is mine!" Chie said.

"We had the large Tanmen…" Yu said taking his bowl and an extra pair of chopsticks to share it with Akitsu.

"Hey keep your paws off the steak and rice…" Yosuke said quickly grabbing his bowl afraid that Chie might take it.

"The tofu ramen's mine…" Yukiko said taking her bowl

"Everybody back, the lunch special is for me." Adachi said taking his own lunch from Aika.

"Umm…did someone order a detective with their lunch?" Yosuke asked surprised that he never noticed Adachi before.

Aika ignored the situation, got back on her scooter and left to make more deliveries.

"Dojima told me to keep an eye out on…AH! I mean, I overheard you placing an order while I was doing IMPORTANT legwork for Dojima! Just good timing…" Adachi said with a nervous laugh as if he wasn't aware he that none of the group believed him.

"This totally blows. Eating with a cop is bad for my digestion…" Kanji muttered.

"She's leaving…" Yu said after noticing Rise finishing with the magazine.

"Great, let's get going!" Yosuke said, putting down his steak and rice.

"But the food…it just got here…" Adachi complained.

"C'mon, Yukiko!" Chie said.

"At least let me eat my tofu…" Yukiko protested stubbornly.

"Yosuke…" Chie said as she noticed something.

A man had just come out of an alley near the tofu shop. He wore a headband and had a backpack on; he definitely had a suspicious air about him. This was most likely because he was actually trying to be sneaky in the poorest manner possible.

"Could that be him?" Chie finished.

"Sure looks like it. After him…" Yosuke said.

Kanji finished his food and was praying towards the empty bowl by clapping his hands together.

"Ahhh… That totally hit the spot…" Kanji stood up and looked at man Chie had spotted "As for you…"

Kanji ran towards the suspicious guy.

"Come here…" Yosuke said.

The guy noticed several high schoolers running towards him. He ran before the blond one reached him…

"Come back here…" Kanji yelled

They ran past Rise, much to her confusion.

"I'll guard Rise!" Yosuke said.

"Dream on!" Chie growled grabbing Yosuke and dragging him along.

"Narukami! Akitsu! Keep an eye on her…" Yukiko said giving chase with the others

"Us?" Yu asked pointing to himself and Akitsu.

"Slow down you punk, so I can pummel your scrawny ass!" Kanji yelled angrily.

"No… don't do that… I'm a cop! If the suspect gets hurt. It'll be MY ENTIRE FAULT!" Adachi yelled

Rise, Yu and Akitsu were looking ahead at the scene with sweat drops and a blank expression.

"I'm confused." Rise said

"Akitsu, can you please make sure he doesn't escape?" Yu requested.

"Yes" Akitsu nodded handing Yu the bowl of Tanmen "Please hold onto this for a moment."

She put both of her chopsticks together and froze them into an icicle that resembled a blunt dart. She narrowed her eyes and drew her hand back forth before tossing it with superhuman strength and accuracy.

The others kept giving chase but despite being scrawny the suspicious man could certainly run fast. There was a highway with fast going cars coming up and he seemed intent on taking his chances with the cars. However just when it looked like he was going to get away his right foot was knocked off balance causing him to stumble and fall over. A smashing sound was heard as the icicle which had impacted the suspicious mans ankle and knocked him off balance smashed against the light pole revealing the shattered chopsticks.

Kanji, Chie and Yosuke took the opportunity to pin the man while he was down.

"Nice shot" Yu complimented

"Thank you" Akitsu replied "An adjuster of mine named Takehito taught me to play darts. He never managed to beat me."

' _We should probably avoid playing darts with her_ ' High Pixie suggested

"Hey leave me alone I'm just your average Risette loving fan boy," the suspect insisted.

"There's nothing average about murdering people douchebag" Kanji yelled keeping the man pinned.

"Murdering people?!" the guy said incredulously. "What are you talking about…?"

"Save it for the station, pal…" Adachi said with a grin "MAN! I always wanted to say that." He then saluted the teens. "On behalf of the police…thank you for apprehending the killer."

Adachi walked away with the suspect in cuffs.

"So that's it… It's all over now?"

"Yeah…We solved the case…WE ROCK!" Chie said.

"It's possible he was just a fan" Yukiko said with a doubting tone.

"Wait…did I really get kidnapped by a wimp like that?"

"No way" Yosuke glared in the direction Adachi had left with the 'suspect'.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[Samegawa Flood Plain, Inaba]

Later on Yu and Akitsu had brought Rise to the Samegawa Flood Plain to get away from what was happening. Yu had given Akitsu his chopsticks and she was finishing off the bowl of Tanmen while watching over him and Rise from the top of the incline near the river.

"Are you sure we're safe here?" Rise asked Yu.

"It's the best vantage point we could have," Yu replied.

"I'm used to this…having stalkers…" Rise said.

"Yeah, but wouldn't be better if you weren't used to this… or had stalkers?" Yu asked.

Rise sat down and looked at a magazine with her picture on the cover. She looked through pages of her in swimsuits and before tearing a page out.

"The girl everyone's making a fuss over…isn't the real me. It's just 'Risette' the idol…" Rise said bitterly.

She folded up the page as Yu sat down to her left.

"She's just another packaged product they've created to sell…"

Rise made the page into a paper airplane and threw It, the plane flew for a short distance before falling down.

"Nobody actually sees the real me," She said with teary eyes which she closed trying to hide her pain… "Ever!"

Yu decided to cheer Rise up. He took a page from the magazine and made an origami crane.

"Wow…impressive!" Rise said

Rise then took a page and tried it herself…

"Wow you suck…" Yu said bluntly when she showed it to him.

"HEY! That wasn't very nice…" she said glaring at him.

"Sorry" Yu apologised cursing his bluntness.

She tried again and presented a better one.

"See, I can do it if I try…" she said

Yu responded by placing a smaller one to place next to hers.

"That's really cute!" Rise giggled.

Yu slightly smiled and pulled out his phone when he felt it vibrate in his pocket. It was a text from Yosuke that read: **Partner… The killer (?) has been caught…Hurry back with Risette!"**

"It looks like the coast is clear…" Yu said.

"Yeah…and it's getting dark..." Rise said getting and starting to walk up the hill before pausing. "Hey, you never told me your name…"

"I'm Yu… Yu Narukami" Yu said introducing himself.

"Hi…I'm Rise…" she introduced herself.

"Oh yeah I think I heard that on the news last night" Yu chuckled

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Later that night Yu, Haihane and Akitsu were gathered in the bed room together. Yu looked out the curtain and shut it after a few seconds of watching the rain fall.

The clock then struck midnight. The unplugged TV turned itself on. The image was less grainy this time. This time they clearly saw Rise on a stage with a pole in a bikini. Then TV abruptly turned itself off.

"So that guy your friends chased after and caught was just a creepy fan after all" Haihane sighed

"That's not good" Yu sighed "Then again I suppose it was stupid of us to just assume that a scrawny guy like that could be the killer. He looked like he'd have a hard time lifting a small TV never mind pushing a person into one"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[06/23 Thursday, Yasogami High Roof]

During lunchtime the group had all gathered on the rooftop to discuss the case.

"Did you see the Midnight channel?" Yu asked

"Yeah I saw it and I caught a glimpse of her in the store this morning on my way here to school" Yosuke said. " It looks like that crazy variety show only starts to get going and become clear once they enter the TV"

"Maybe it's the person's shadow self that's responsible for creating that program" Yukiko suggested "Like they're somehow projecting their thoughts to us in the form of a TV show"

"Yeah that could be but why does that fuzzy image come on before they enter then?" Chie asked.

"Maybe it's the killer's way of putting some sort of message or warning out there" Yu suggested.

"But who exactly is he trying to warn?" Chie asked "and why do that?"

"Ask the murderer…" Yosuke said.

"Is it possible that what's being aired are the killer thoughts? So in some weird way it looks like a warning" Yukiko proposed.

"So what we're seeing is who he plans to target next'" Yosuke asked.

"So what? We're watching some sort of creepy fantasy he has before he attacks somebody else?" Chie asked with a disgusted expression.

"Wouldn't that mean that the stalker we nabbed earlier wasn't our guy then?" Kanji said glumly resting his face in one hand.

' _Hee-ding ding ding ladies and and gentlemen the winner of this years title of 'Captain Obvious' goes to this guy-ho_ ' Pyro Jack snarked

"Yup I'd say so" Haihane said resting her head on her hand looking out into the distance.

"The only thing we know for certain is that Rise Kujikawa is in real danger," Yu said.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Much later after classes were finished Yu was closing his shoe locker when he noticed a familiar girl in a female summer uniform with high white socks walking by.

"Rise?" Yu said.

"Oh… Narukami!" She said.

"What brings you here?" Yu asked.

"Oh… I registered for this school in one of the first-year classes. You go here, too?"

"Yes, I'm a second-year…"

"Well then, that makes you my Senpai…so I trust you to show me what you know…"

"I'll do that…" Yu chuckled.

Rise was about to go out the door when she noticed a large crowed of paparazzi outside the school gates.

"The press wasn't here when I got here… I wonder who told them…" Rise said dejectedly.

"I know of another way out…" Yu said.

They went out the door that led to the Practice Building…but then Yu made a left and led Rise by the hand to a secret opening in fence that Kanji had showed him once.

"This is like a TV drama…" Rise giggled.

They made their way to the shopping district however by the time they got to Marukyu Tofu the press was there as well.

"We can't get by those press people either…" Rise said even more dejectedly.

"Rise…" A voice said.

Rise turned around. It was Inoue her former manager.

"We need to talk…"

He lead both of them to Tatsuhime Shrine so that they could talk without any crowds gathering.

"I didn't want to let you go without talking one last time…" Inoue said.

Yu just stood there and listened silently knowing that this was a private affair.

"Look, Inoue … I'm not going back… I want to be more than a doll that has her life scheduled for her without being allowed to breathe…"

"Rise…That movie you were supposed to be in… it was given to Kanami…" Inoue looked down but not surprised.

"Kanami? You mean… Kanami Mashita?" Rise asked stunned

"I'm going to represent her now… to the best of my ability…" Inoue nodded in confirmation then turned around and started walking away. Then he stopped and slightly looking back said, "You were like a daughter to me… you were the best…but now… I have to move on…and Kanamin will be at the top in half the time it was for you…"

"Why… does this bother me? I'm out… this shouldn't bother me…" Rise stammered as she stab of pain in her heart.

"Are you sure you want this hiatus…?" Yu asked attempting to be kind.

"Why would you ask me that?" Rise snarled she then shook her head and started sobbing. "I thought you were different…but you're the same. You're exactly like everyone else…"

Then she ran off crying, Yu could stare after her, unable to find the strength to stop her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

The clock struck Midnight and as expected the Midnight channel appeared on Yu's TV, on the screen Rise's shadow was smiling and displaying her bikini's bust and her rear end to the camera.

"Marukyu… I'm a spring flower blooming into a high school idol" Rise said…or at least her shadow did. "That's right it's me Risette and this time…." It took out a school uniform and showed it the camera "I'm going to take on the most extreme challenge."

"Wow these shadow things are really unhinged" Haihane said raising her eyebrow "No sane or decent idol, hiatus or no, would do something this embarrassing."

Yu however either didn't hear her or was ignoring her as he and kept unconsciously hitting 'Record' on the remote several times while his eyes were glued to the TV screen which didn't go unnoticed by a certain jealous ice Sekirei.

"I'm going to strip for you" Shadow Rise proclaimed as the camera zoomed in on her body again.

"Strip?" Yu began sweating and hitting the record button faster.

"Oh I'm so embarrassed" She giggled and the camera zoomed in on her eyes "But if I'm gonna do it then…I am going to go all the way. I'll take it all off for you. So stay tuned. "

She then blew a kiss and the TV turned off. Yu was brought back to reality by his cell phone ringing. He decided to ignore Haihane's snickering at his loss of self control.

"Hello?" Yu asked.

"DUDE?! Did she say strip?" Yosuke yelled excitedly down the phone causing Yu to move it away from his head and glare down the phone at Yosuke.

"Yes, she did," Yu replied.

"This is getting crazier and crazier!" Yosuke exclaimed.

Yu stopped and played the disc he'd recorded.

"Calm down…" Yu said with annoyance.

"Yeah, you're right." Yosuke paused. "That means she's in there, right?"

"Yes…" Yu said.

"That means we failed" Yosuke groaned "We even knew the target was this time we still could stop it."

"Let's go tomorrow…" Yu directed

"Yeah got it…" Yosuke hung up.

Yu had hit play on the disc…however there was only static on it as if the Midnight Channel had never played in the first place

"Figures…" Yu said cynically turning the TV off.

Yu felt someone tap him on the shoulder and looked at Haihane questioningly who simply smirked and pointed behind him. Before he could look see however he felt himself be grabbed and found his face shoved into Akitsu's sizeable chest.

' _Sorry Yu Incubus slipped away from me for a moment_ ' Izanagi apologised ' _Most of your actions just then were driven by Incubus who took advantage of getting away from me and your hormones_ '

' _Oh come on he's a healthy teenager_ ' Incubus defended himself unrepentantly ' _He has two aliens literally dedicated to loving him and he still hasn't…_ '

' _That's enough out of you_ ' Valkyrie interjected

' _Indeed you've caused enough problems so we are going to castrate you and shut you up for good'_ Titania threatened

' _H-how did you get Pale Riders scythe?'_ Incubus asked nervously

' _I promised to get the Dominion and Virtue to cleanse it thoroughly after I was done'_ Titania explained ' _He'd be doing this himself except he's still angry at them for beating him at quiz night a couple of weeks back. Now hold still this will only take a second.'_

' _If I had any single regret for anything that I haven't done yet…it's that I never got Yu to third base with any of these alien babes. Bow Chicka Bow Wow'_ Incubus said quickly giving the impression that he was running.

Yu decided to block out his Persona's antics and focused on not resisting Akitsu, he felt guilty at allowing his hormones (and Incubus) to take control like that. Seeing her Ashikabi act like a drooling idiot probably did nothing to help Akitsu's self esteem which he knew was not very high to begin with so he decided to just let her have this moment.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[06/24 Friday, TV world,]

The next day after classes had ended everyone had gathered together, when they entered the TV world they saw Teddie who looked very depressed.

"Teddie? What's wrong?" Yu asked.

"You were all having fun without me… You fur-got about me!" Teddie complained sadly. "You abeardoned me!"

"You get lonely?" Yukiko asked surprised.

"Yes…I've bearcome a beary gloomy bear…"

"Yeah, Yeah! Cut the crap…" Yosuke said dismissively

"DID YOU JUST CALL MY FEELINGS CRAP?!" Teddie yelled with anger.

"I'm just a stupid bear who doesn't know where he came from…" Teddie cried and started rolling around on the ground.

"Stay still!" Kanji said.

"I live in oblivion and no one comes to visit me…" Teddie continued sadly.

"Listen, Teddie, We need…" Yu said.

"I got so lonely that I wanted to cry I even tried…but nothing came out!" Teddie said stopping his rolling around and lying on his stomach. "When I'm alone I start to think and that just makes me lonelier…"

"We'd never forget about you, Teddie," Chie said tenderly.

"Sometimes we even think about you…" Yukiko said.

"Does that mean I can still score with you?" Teddie asked his disposition changing very quickly.

"Nice recovery!" Chie chuckled

"Can't we just make that subject off limits for good?" Yukiko pleaded with a depressed tone.

"Teddie… we're looking for Rise Kujikawa have you seen her?" Yu asked.

He dangling the charm from Rise's cellphone that he had gotten from Rise's grandmother.

"Rise Kujikawa?" Teddie asked in confusion

Teddie sniffed it and then led them down a yet another path that they hadn't been on before. He led them to a building that looked similar to a night club. It had a neon sign that said 'Marukyu Striptease.'

"Rise's in here?" Yu asked.

"I smell her loud and clear…" Teddie said.

"Say…isn't this one of those places you find near some inn in some washed-up tourist town…?" Yosuke asked.

"NO! Not by MY family's Inn." Yukiko yelled appalled.

There were triangular folding signs that advertised various other girls. However one poster in particular caught Yu's eye, it was in a frame and had lights surrounding it, on the poster it read **_"Special Guest…Rise Kujikawa!"_**

"Damn it" Kanji complained "I can barely see."

"Oh yeah right you never did get a pair of glasses for this place did you Kanji?" Chie noted.

"My bad" Teddie said apologetically "I totally forgot plus it wasn't foggy when you came over, here for you"

Teddie handed Kanji a pair of glasses which he put. They allowed him to see however, they were in fact a pair of gag glasses that the bear had made when he was bored.

"Bear" Kanji growled "Why the hell did I get these?"

"You look great" Yukiko giggled out before she broke into laughter.

Haihane snickered while the normally stoic Akitsu hid a smirk behind her sleeve.

"Yo cut the crap Teddie I want another pair of glasses" Kanji yelled angrily at Teddie who retreated behind Yu.

"What's wrong you don't like them?" Teddie asked

"HELL NO I DON'T LIKE THEM" Kanji yelled "AND MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE ME A PAIR WHEN I WAS OVER HERE LAST TIME!"

"Well the fog was clear from this place on that day so I didn't think you'd need them." Teddie protested

"Oh right hey guys before I forget put these on" Haihane held out what looked like badges.

"What are these badges for?" Chie asked

"They're cameras" Haihane explained "You see Minaka wants some footage from this place so he can see this place for himself. Also he wants to see how his nephew fights. The Camera's can record and store a couple of month's worth of footage and when they get a signal they beam the footage they have stored to Minaka's private server at MBI."

"I guess that make's sense." Kanji nodded

"Oh! Do you think he can make DVDs of us fighting the shadows?" Chie asked "Because that would be so cool."

"Cool your jets Chie" Yosuke said "We need to rescue Rise first remember?"

"Come on let's get going" Yu ordered walking through the entrance.

"Hey wait up Sensei" Teddie yelled following Yu.

The others all nodded at each other and ran to catch up.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

The group made its way inside and cut their way through groups of shadows who put up a fierce resistance. With every floor that they went through the shadows got stronger and tried harder to stop them. Eventually they came to the sixth floor and Shadow Rise's voice echoed around them.

"You came" Shadow Rise giggled "But still, I'm a little embarrassed…So I'm gonna turn out the lights!"

"Whoa! It's so dark in here!" Teddie said "This is dangerous! We should be careful going onward, Sensei!"

"Man I hate this place" Kanji grumbled "First the lights in this place hurt my eyes and now there are no lights at all. Rise's shadow sure like's screwing with us."

"Yeah tell me about it" Yosuke groaned "The shadows in here are no joke either."

"You think you've got it bad?" Haihane asked "Try being me, I feel like I'm being squeezed by something."

Eventually after more trudging through the dark Chie got tired of Yosuke's complaining and kicked him in the gut.

"Ah! Shut up already" Chie grumbled

"Aw my stomach" Yosuke groaned

They stopped when they came to another curtain.

"Hey sensei" Teddie piped up "I sense something beary powerful behind this curtain"

"You came" Shadow Rise exclaimed excitedly "Okay. I'm ready for anything."

"…Are you ready, Sensei?" Teddie gulped.

Yu opened the curtain up and the group stepped inside, the lights suddenly came back on revealing Shadow Rise.

"Hello everyone I'm afraid the main event is going to have to wait" she said "But fear not we have a special guest to keep you entertained. So have fun until the main event."

With that she vanished and a spotlight came on showing another Akitsu, only, her eyes were glowing an eerie yellow and there were tear trails leading down from her eyes as if she'd been crying. The real Akitsu flinched and took a step back.

'No' she shook her head in denial 'It can't be'

"Is that Akitsu?" Chie asked

"It's her shadow" Teddie stated "It smells a bit different but's definitely her shadow and its no push over either."

"So I guess even aliens have shadows?" Yukiko commented

"Terrible" Shadow Akitsu sobbed

"Terrible at what?" Kanji asked bluntly receiving an elbow to the ribs from Yukiko.

"What?" he asked rubbing the spot where he'd been elbowed.

"I'm a terrible Sekirei" Shadow Akitsu clarified with a sad and slightly angry tone.

"What does she mean by that?" Yosuke asked

The group looked at Akitsu who was trembling and edging away from her own shadow.

"Broken" Shadow Akitsu's tone changed, the sadness leaving and being replaced with an increasing anger "That's what they told me at MBI, that I was broken."

"What does that mean?" Yukiko asked

"There was some accident" Haihane clarified "With some idiot scientist when he was adjusting Akitsu and because of that she became broken and thus unwingable or so we thought…."

"I thought I'd never get an Ashikabi" Shadow Akitsu explained "but then Yu came along and like a miracle I had an Ashikabi. The hours we spent together on the day before he had to leave were the happiest moments of my life. But when he left the scientists found another problem…"

"Another problem? What problem?" Chie wondered.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Akitsu yelled out fearfully "DON'T SAY ANYMORE"

"AND WHY SHOULDN'T I" Shadow Akitsu demanded angrily "DOESN'T OUR ASHIKABI DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH?"

"Truth?" Yu asked curiously

"NO DON'T, STOP!" Akitsu pleaded even more fearful now.

Her shadow was not deterred by Akitsu's fear nor her pleading instead she began to grin maniacally, appearing to delight in her counterpart's fear. Yu could tell that whatever it was Akitsu didn't want to admit it was important to her.

"You see the truth is that I'm a terrible Sekirei because I'm still broken" Shadow Akitsu laughed "You want know why I'm still broken? Well that's because….

"NO WAIT!" Akitsu yelled trembling and near tears.

"Because I don't have a Norito!" Shadow Akitsu yelled her grin getting wider.

"No Norito? No way" Haihane mumbled in disbelief.

"What's Norito?" Yukiko asked

"It's like a Sekirei's trump card" Haihane explained "It might manifest as a powerful ability or a move that'll usually end a fight when its used."

Akitsu fell and began hugging her knees to herself. Her shadow simply strolled up to her glared down at her.

"Who are you trying to fool?" Shadow Akitsu demanded "Going around thinking you're not broken anymore just because you have an Ashikabi?"

Akitsu didn't reply instead cover her ears in an attempt to block her Shadow out.

"Hey leave her the hell alone" Kanji yelled angrily.

"Yeah back off" Chie demanded with equal anger.

Shadow Akitsu simply ignored the two and wrenched Akitsu's hands off her ears and forced her to look her shadow in the face.

"I know everything about you" Shadow Akitsu said "Every dirty little secret. I know all of this because I am you and you are me."

"T-that's n-not true" Akitsu sobbed

"No hold on don't" Chie was stopped by Haihane's gauntleted hand coming in front of her motioning for to stop.

"Hold on. I think she needs to face this." Haihane said "Otherwise this'll just keep tormenting her."

Chie and Yukiko looked torn between trying to stop Akitsu and listening to Haihane.

"She has a point" Yosuke said "I mean think about it. We've all faced our shadows and look at us now. We've all come out stronger for it."

"Just for the record I don't like this" Chie grumbled

"Noted" Haihane deadpanned.

"YOU-"

"I'm?" Shadow Akitsu put her hand to her ear in a mocking attempt to hear Akitsu better.

"YOU'RE NOT ME" Akitsu yelled

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shadow Akitsu began taking several steps backward until she was a fair distance away from the group.

Black and Purple smoke began forming around the Shadow even as it continued its maniacal cackling after a few seconds the cloud grew larger and abruptly clear.

The Shadow had changed its appearance, now she was wearing a snow coloured kimono and she had long blue hair and pale skin the colour of snow complete with glowing red eyes.

"I am a shadow of your true inner self" Shadow Akitsu said "Come; I'll end your worthless existence"

"Oh no, ya don't." Kanji growled "Person-"

Kanji was cut off as Shadow Akitsu turned to him waved her hand in his direction. Kanji was promptly hit by a powerful icy blast freezing him solid.

"Kanji!" Chie yelled

"Oh no she turned him into a Kanjsicle" Teddie exclaimed.

"Snrk…..Kanjscicle…. hahahaha" Yukiko began laughing until was she cut off by Chie.

"Yukiko this isn't the time we have to stop her" Chie scolded her friend "PERSONA!"

Chie summoned Tomoe with Yosuke summoning Jiraiya and Yukiko who'd recovered from her brief laughing fit following suit bringing out Amaterasu.

"Izanagi" Yu summoned his Persona and prepared for battle.

"So that's how it's gonna be is it?" Shadow Akitsu asked "Fine then let's do it"

The whole room temperature dropped and ice formed on the ground and walls. Out of the ice five Icy clones of Shadow Akitsu formed one of which had claws for hands. The clawed one engaged Haihane while the others engaged everyone else.

Tomoe gave a powerful kick to the clone she was fighting which caused its left arm to crumble away.

"Yes!" Chie cheered only to stop when the arm regenerated using Ice that was on the ground "Oh come on, that's not fair."

Neither Yu nor Yosuke were having much better luck. At first Izanagi tried cleaving his clone in two only for it repair itself and counter attack. Then he tried Zionga which caused the clone to explode, naturally it came back quite quickly.

Jiraiya had tried varying degrees of Garu attacks and physical attacks with much the same result. However Yosuke's luck being as it was his clone responded by kicking Jiraiya in the crotch. The pain of which was transmitted to Yosuke.

"Ah critical hit to the nads" he groaned

Haihane had just as little luck. Not matter how many times she managed to slice her opponent it just regenerated the damage.

Yukiko was not having fun either. The clone she was fighting was swiftly melted by an Agilao from Amaterasu. However the clone appeared to be playing a strange form of whack-a-mole with her. Every time it was melted it simply reformed somewhere else only to be melted again, it appeared to be trying to wear Yukiko down and it seemed to be working judging from the way she was panting.

"Teddie what's going on?" Yu asked the bear "Is the shadow regenerating them?"

"No sensei" Teddie shook his head "its beary weird but it's just standing there. It's not using any energy at all."

"So if it's not the shadow then how are they-" Yu gasped when he looked down and mentally face palmed "The Ice that's how they're doing it. Yukiko prepare a Maragion I have an idea."

"Uh sure but what am I aiming at." Yukiko asked

"The whole room" Yu said "Now change Pyro Jack"

Izanagi glowed blue and changed allowing a floating pumpkin headed figure carrying an old oil lantern to take his place.

"Now Pyro Jack go over to Amateratsu" Yu ordered.

The Persona complied and floated to Amaterasu but not before blasting its clone and Amaterasu's with an Agilao.

"Now Yukiko quick" Yu ordered

"Right"

"Pyro jack"

"Amaterasu"

"You're really selfish" Shadow Akitsu berated her counterpart "You were on top of the world when you got an Ashikabi. You were so excited thinking about what 'you' had and how happy it made 'you'. Even after you were reunited with your Ashikabi after a few months apart you didn't even give a single thought as to how your were going to fight for your Ashikabi in the Sekirei plan."

Akitsu gave out a gasp of shock realising that she had indeed forgotten that crucial point.

"Ah so now you remember" Shadow Akitsu mocked "Think about it, in the later stages of the plan you're going to have to fight against other Single Number's and at least some of them will have been part of the original Discipline Squad. Without Norito there's no way you can fight them yourself-AAAGGHH!"

"MARAGION" Yu and Yukiko ordered together.

The two Personas combined their powers and interrupted the shadow and its rant using huge wall of flame swirling around the room to melt the ice heat things up. The clones were destroyed one by one unable to regenerate, yet somehow Kanji remained on ice.

"And so what?" Akitsu broke out of her reverie and looked to Yu who spoke up after melting the room "So without it you won't be able to fight some of the stronger Sekirei alone. Who cares? The fact that you can't beat a stronger opponent alone is the reason that you have friends and teammates to back you up. We're going to be the Discipline Squad together you, me, Haihane and the others we're all here to help you, so don't try taking the burden onto yourself. Besides whether you're strong or weak, have a Norito or don't it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is who you are not what you have."

Shadow Akitsu took a few steps back and clutched her head in pain as blue static danced across her body. Yu could tell that his words had taken hold inside of Akitsu as she wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up looking her shadow straight in the eye.

"Everything you've said is true" Akitsu said "I did only think of myself when I got my Ashikabi. I was mortified when I found out I had no Norito and I was afraid that he might not want me. But if he can accept me even without Norito then I can too."

"Aggghhhh DIE!" Shadow Akitsu brought her hands together and created a huge spike made out of ice and sent it at Akitsu.

Knowing that she hadn't the strength to dodge Akitsu closed her eyes and waited. However instead of the sound of flesh and bone being gored she instead heard a familiar sound of Ice being crunched.

When she opened her eyes and looked up she saw a giant Jack Frost, except it was black and had red eyes and mouth in place of black ones. It also had the giant icy spike in its mouth and was eating it whole. Within seconds the spike was gone and it let out a loud burp.

"Black Frost" Yu stated the name of the Persona.

"He- after that meal is done. I'm all-" Black Frost laughed and let out a blast of fire that melted not only Kanji but the ice that had covered the room. The blast also hit Akitsu's Shadow causing it to scream as it tried to put the flames that were burning its kimono out.

"No way" Haihane snickered "Is it really going to say what I think it is?"

"I'M ALL FIRED UP!-HO" Black Frost bellowed as flames enveloped his fists.

Haihane tried to cover her mouth but her smirk was clearly visible as she gave Yu a look.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing" Haihane chuckled "I just never thought that your Persona's would be influenced by the anime that you watched with me the day before you had to leave MBI."

"It's not that bad" Yu protested "I'm sure it's just a coincidence."

Black Frost began charging at Shadow Akitsu with its right fist reared back.

"No stay back" she screamed sending a couple of Icy blasts at the rampaging Frost who simply deflected one with his flame left fist and swallowed the other.

"HE- NOW GET READY FOR THE GRAND FINALE-HO" Black Frost yelled as it got closer to Shadow Akitsu "BLACK FROST'S-"

"No- I don't believe it" Yu face palmed as he realised his Persona was going to do it. Haihane broke down into laughter finding it completely hilarious.

"JACK FIST!" Black Frost finished punching Shadow Akitsu with his right flaming fist with all his considerable strength as well as turning the shadow into a fireball.

The force sent her crashing into the wall behind her which cracked and even caved in when she fell from it too the ground and the flames exploded. When the dust cleared Akitsu's shadow was enveloped in blue glow and shrank back into a replica of Akitsu. Blue static danced across the shadow as Akitsu approached it.

"You're right" Akitsu said to her shadow which opened its eyes and looked at her from its sitting position "Everything you said was true. You were a voice deep inside that I wanted so desperately to ignore. That's because deep down I knew I was being selfish, only caring about myself and my own feelings rather than how I could protect and fight for my Ashikabi."

"I'm sorry I tried ignoring you" Akitsu apologised kneeling down and hugging her shadow close "I know who you are and you're me."

"So what happens now?" Haihane asked.

"Well if it follows the pattern it Akitsu should be getting a Persona." Chie said

"Sorry but I'm afraid it's a little different for us Sekirei" Shadow Akitsu said with a smile.

"Different. What do you mean?" Yukiko asked tilting her head in confusion.

"It's long story, but the short version is that we Sekirei are aliens. Which you already know." Shadow Akitsu said "However while we look human we aren't. Because we aren't from your world and many details about our origins are so different, a Sekirei can never have a Persona."

"What she can't have a P-persona b-because she's an alien?" Kanji said chattered his teeth due to the chill from the melted ice "T-t-that's b-bullshi-ACHOO!"

She looked at her counterpart still smiling.

"But that doesn't mean that something good can't happen from accepting me." Shadow Akitsu said "Listen, our old Norito is gone for good and it'll never come back. So to make up for it, I'll give you a new one. Treasure this power and use it to protect our Ashikabi. "

With that Shadow Akitsu began glowing blue until she no longer has a solid form. She then settled into Akitsu's chest. The Sekirei of Ice glowed and her wings appeared for a moment before vanishing.

"I will I promise" Akitsu said putting her hands on her chest.

She rose to her feet and walked a few steps towards the group before suddenly falling forwards. Yu ran and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Akitsu" Yu called her name "She's ok just unconscious."

"So what do we do now?" Chie asked "Should we go back and come again when she's better?"

Yu looked at the sleeping Sekirei in his arms for a few moments before making a decision.

"No we have to keep going." Yu replied after a few moments of silence.

"But she needs to rest" Yukiko protested "After facing her shadow she can't keep-"

"I know that" Yu interrupted brushing some of Akitsu's hair out of her face "But when I first met her she didn't have a lot of self confidence even after I winged her. If were to go back now and she woke up she'd blame herself for holding us back and even if we just left her in the real world to recover she'd think that I though she was burden. I can't let her slip back into that line of thought. So even though it might be bad for her in the short run we should keep going. I owe her this much at least."

With that Yu stood up and lifted Akitsu into a fireman's carry as he began making his way out of the room with the others following, deeper into striptease and closer to Rise and her Shadow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"This is it," Yu said with Akitsu still draped across his shoulders after he changed her position a few times while carrying her through the remainder of the striptease.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Shadow Rise announced. "Let me guide you to the sparkling world of wonder!"

Then a spotlight and some old-sounding introduction music started playing. The centre stage rose and there were six girls who all looked alike.

"That's a lot of Risettes" Chie commented.

Just as Chie said there were six Risettes in all. One was dressed with a bonnet and had a dress with an old styled blouse jacket and thigh high stockings and shoes. Another that had a tuxedo jacket with a blouse, a skirt, and black stockings. Another Risette was kneeing a soccer ball while wearing a green soccer outfit and white high socks. The fourth was a cheerleader with a belly baring blouse and the skirt's waist band was in a V-cut, with high socks and was waving gold-pom-poms. The Fifth was in a grey business suit with slacks and wore glasses. While the sixth was in an Orange Kimono with a Square pattern and had a black obi to it. However unlike the other five who had pigtails, this one had her hair done in a ponytail. However, all six of them had glowing yellow eyes.

"Yeah! And I know them all! "Yosuke exclaimed "The first one is from her third photo shoot. The one in the soccer outfit's from her second… The Cheerleader…"

"All right… This show is called Risette's Dynamite Body. Are. You. All. READY?!" Shadow Rise interrupted.

Another platform rose from the ground revealing Shadow Rise.

"I AM!" Yosuke cheered a little too excitedly "RISETTE!"

"Ohhh…SHUT UP!" Chie snapped giving Yosuke a kick to the back out of annoyance.

"Today, I'm here to bare everything to you all"Shadow Rise said."What? Do you think that's a FIBBY-WIBBY?!" She held her hand to her ear as if the group had actually spoken.

Yu just stared at Rise's Shadow while Haihane looked perplexed. He decided to take the opportunity to put Akitsu down in a seat nearby so he could be ready for battle and she could rest, hopefully out of danger.

"Well, You'll just have to figure out if I'm telling the lie or telling the truth…You're about to meet…" Then she held her index finger up… "The. Real. ME."

Exotic music began playing and the six other Risette's started clapping in time to the music as Shadow Rise had walked up to a stripper pole and started spinning around by walking, then again when she jumped up with her feet bunched up to the backs of her legs.

"I hope mine wasn't like this…Man this is brutal," Kanji sweat dropped.

"What you're seeing are Rise's true inner feelings, of course they're brutal!" Teddie said.

Yu thought back to what Rise had said at Samegawa. "The girl everybody makes a big fuss over…isn't the real me."

Rise's Shadow began suggestively rubbing her thigh against the pole and did so for a few seconds before the music stopped abruptly.

"HMPH! Talk about a dead crowd." She snorted "Well then, maybe it's about time I brought out our SPECIAL GUEST!"

"What guest?" Yosuke grunted as he got back up.

"Today's Special Guest is…"Shadow Rise said.

"Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do" The Shadow Risettes said, speaking at an increasing pace alongside an invisible drummer.

"Rise Kujikawa!"Shadow Rise said gesturing to the girl question, who was kneeling on stage.

Rise was still dressed in her work clothes for the tofu shop. The apron and scarf over her head were still on.

"Stop it! That's enough!" Rise said to her Shadow.

"Rise!" Yu said, before some Shadows came down.

They were dressed like 1940's detectives with complete hats and suits. Their landing knocked everybody back.

"They're here! Grizzlies!" Teddie said running for cover.

"Everybody listen up! Remember to mind your manners and keep your hands off the dancers at all times."

The Shadows pulled up guns and started firing. The bullets caused everyone to scatter behind some seats that were there much like a club or restaurant. Haihane managed to pull Akitsu down from the chair that she was resting in and out of the line of fire.

"Where's my glasses?! Shit! Where the Hell did they go! I can't see without those things!" Kanji said.

He crawled around on the ground looking for his glasses.

"PERSONA!" Yu summoned summoning Izanagi.

Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko summoned theirs as well.

"Let's do this quick!" Yu said.

They started attacking the Fuzz Shadows with their magic attacks however all of them were repelled forcing the Persona users to dodge as the elemental blasts came back at them.

"They've repelled our attacks!" Yukiko exclaimed

"Then we've got to step it up!" Chie growled. "Let's try it the old fashioned way!"

The Physical attacks appeared to work and tore the shadows apart. But more appeared descending from the ceiling to replace them.

"They keep coming!" Chie said.

"NO! This isn't real!" Rise said on stage.

Shadow Rise was using the pole again, pressing her chest and wrapping a leg around it. "Oh, but it is. You wanted people to notice you."Then Shadow Rise wrapped herself around the pole and spun and rubbed her suggestively against it. "Come, everyone! Looky! Looky!"

"Stop it, you're wrong! I'm nothing like that!" Rise insisted.

"You don't think so, huh? Then just who is the real you?" Shadow Rise demanded irritated at her counterpart.

The other six Risettes gathered in a circle and towered over Rise, all of them giggling mockingly.

"Well go on!" Shadow Rise said. "Tell us who the real you is!"

"The Real Me… is just…" Rise began, but couldn't finish as even she didn't know the answer.

"Damn it! Where are those things!" Kanji growled in frustration at being unable to see through the fog.

"Are these what you're looking for?" Teddie smugly said holding a spare pair of Kanji glasses which were regular ones instead of gag ones.

"I can rock these." Kanji grinned taking them and putting them on.

"You're all goin' down. PERSONA!" Kanji said, as the shadows began advancing on him.

He summoned Take-Mikazuchi who used his lightning bolt sword to slash through the Shadows.

"Sorry for the wait!" Kanji said, folding his arms as Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko turned over to him.

Kanji smirked even as more Fuzz shadows dropped from the sky.

"C'mon," He said taunting them angrily and uncrossing his arms "C'mon! C'mon! C'MON!"

Take Mikazuchi began making short work of the Shadows.

"Wow! He's awesome!" Yosuke said.

"He's a bulldozer!" Chie grinned.

"So you still haven't said who the real Rise is…" Shadow Rise said approaching Rise on the stage.

"I'm the Real Rise!" The Risette with the bonnet said.

"I'm the Real Rise!"The Soccer-playing Risette said.

"I'm the Real Rise!" The Kimono-wearing Risette said.

"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW WHO THE REAL ME IS!" Rise cried.

"I'll tell you. I'M the real RISE! You see, I am YOU and YOU are ME."

"You're wrong! You're not me!" Rise said.

"I'm sick and tired of putting on a fake smile an always having to play the flirt," Rise's Shadow taunted.

Rise started softly sobbing.

"Watch closely now…" Shadow Rise said starting to untie the bikini top's straps. "And you'll see the true ME!"

"That's not true, you can't be…" Rise denied.

"STOP! Don't say IT!" Chie shouted.

"RISE!" Yu called.

"You are NOT ME!" Rise denied her shadow again in anger.

Purple energy surrounded Shadow Rise.

"And now….HERE IT COOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEESSSSSSSS!"

Black and Purple smoke formed around the Shadow, when it cleared, her appearance had changed. She had her legs wrapped around the stripper pole and was lying backwards while hanging off the pole in the air.

"I am a Shadow…of your True Inner Self!" The Shadow said.

She now was completely covered in various flowing blobs of body paint and her face had become a satellite dish with Rise's pigtails.

"What…is this?" Rise asked, looking at her Shadow.

"RISE!" Yu said, as the five approached the stage.

"Narukami! You…came…" Rise said as she fainted.

"Chie! Yukiko! Guard Rise!" Yu ordered "Haihane keep up the pressure on the shadows."

"Got it!" Chie said.

"Right!" Yukiko said.

"On it" Haihane replied as she slashed apart two more shadows, while trying to keep an eye on Akitsu who was still out cold on the ground between the rows of seats.

However, green energy exuded from Rise's Shadow in a square pattern and blanketed the Personas.

Shadow Rise saw what her scan was telling her.

Izanagi: Fool Arcana. Great with Zio. Mudo won't work. Weak to Garu. Will be 5 cm to the right in 1 second. Strength Reasonable.

Jiraiya: Magician Arcana. Great with Garu. Strong against Garu. Weak to Zio. Will try to flank me in 2 seconds. Strength is so-so.

Take-Mikazuchi: Emperor Arcana. Great with Physical Attacks. Very Good with Zio. Weak to Garu. Will try a frontal attack. Strength…He's Totally Strong

"I see you!" She said before dancing around their attacks like they were nothing.

"Wha?!" Yosuke exclaimed with disbelief.

"Teddie guard Rise" Chie ordered and had Tomoe put Rise down on the chair.

"Okeydokey!" Teddie waved as Amaterasu and Tomoe flew towards Shadow Rise.

However she had already scanned them as well.

Tomoe: Chariot Arcana. Great with Physical Attacks, Good with Bufu. Weak to Agi. Strength is Decent.

Amaterasu: Priestess Arcana. Great with Agi. Good at Mudo. Weak to Bufu. Strength is not bad.

Both will attack at roughly the same time.

"You're so transparent!"Shadow Rise giggled as she danced around a fire and ice attack from Amaterasu and Tomoe respectively.

"She dodged that?!" Chie cursed.

"Wait…that light?" Yosuke pointed out.

"It's scanning our Personas and see's our attacks." Yu observed

"Analysis Complete!" Shadow Rise stated.

Shadow Rise got off the pole and landed on her feet.

"Time to Counterattack!"

Shadow Rise picked up the stripper pole and it fired multi coloured energy beams that hit the five Personas.

"AGH!" Everybody screamed

"OH NO!" Teddie said. "Sensei! Other Guys!"

Rise stirred and leaned up a bit. "Be…Careful…Narukami!"

"OOOO! That got you good!" Shadow Rise laughed.

"Mast-er" Akitsu opened her eyes but still drained of strength she was unable to get up and help.

Haihane meanwhile was dealing with the fuzz shadows which were now coming in greater numbers in an attempt to overwhelm the persona users from behind.

"Here's another round!" Shadow Rise fired again. The force of the second blast was enough to knock everybody off their feet.

"I really ought to do something," Teddie said. "I need to help them, but I don't know what to do!" Teddie then started crying hitting his head. "I'M SO USELESS! I'M NO GOOD TO ANYBODY AT ALL!"

"Take that"

The third shot made sure everybody went down.

"Talk about LAME!"Shadow Rise said, laughing. "I think the time has finally come, to get rid of you once and for all!"

Four more poles descended and landed on the stage.

"We are so SCREWED!" Yosuke said.

"Does this mean we're going to die?" Yukiko asked.

"TEDDIE!" Yu shouted. "Take Rise and get out of here! NOW!"

"But Sensei! I can't just abeardon anybody! I don't want to be all alone again!" Teddie cried.

Shadow Rise bundled the poles in a fashion similar to a Bazooka.

"Say goodbye. FOREVER!" Shadow Rise began charging up the weapon.

"STOP IT! THAT'S ENOUGH! Just let them be!" Rise demanded now conscious again.

Shadow Rise looked and looked at her counterpart with what would be anger if she had a normal face.

"Annoying Bitch! You wanna go first?" She pointed her weapon at Rise.

However…Teddie started glowing and had a very angry look on his face.

"TEDDIE!" Yu yelled.

"Why am I taking the lead on this?!" Teddie asked.

"What the hell, Why is his energy signal so huge?"Shadow Rise asked.

Teddie: No Arcana Known. Energy Rising off the Charts. Isn't this kind of bad?

"RRRRRAAAAWWWWWRRR!" Teddie growled with Rage. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!"

"What the…?" Kanji said.

"Holy crap" Haihane said

"My body is just moving on its own!" Teddie said as he started running towards the stage!

"S-Stay Back!" Shadow Rise stammered aiming her weapon at the bear.

"NO! DON'T DO IT!" Yosuke and Kanji yelled.

Shadow Rise fired and the combined energy hit Teddie.

"TEDDIE!" Yu yelled.

Then gasped as he saw Teddie charging through energy blast which was having no effect on him.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Teddie yelled a battle cry as he got closer.

He then leapt at Shadow Rise.

"The System is overloading!"

"RAWR! TAKE THAT!"

There was an explosion of light as the weapon exploded.

"TEDDIE!" everyone said.

Then everything went white. When the light had cleared, everyone including the Personas were standing over Teddie who was as flat as a pancake.

"Teddie?" Rise said. "You saved me."

"I know how you feel…and how bad it hurts…when you don't know fur sure…who you really are. It's hard. But you don't have to worry about it alone. You and me… We can figure it out together.

"You and me?" Rise asked.

"Yeah, and we have Sensei and the others too."

Rise looked at the others.

"I'm sorry to put you all through this…" she said apologetically.

"Look, just take it easy for now," Yu said with a kind smile.

"It's been a long time, since someone said that to me." Rise smiled

She then got up and approached her Shadow.

"I'm so sorry," She said. Then she kneeled down next to her Shadow. "Look, I've fought so hard to try to figure out who the real me truly is… But I realized…no amount of searching is going to help…because there was no real me to find."

"Does that mean that there's no real me, either?" Teddie asked himself aloud.

"But I realized that Risette, You, You're all a part of me."

The Shadow blinked, and then was bathed in blue light.

Rise's Shadow had transformed into a woman with a long white dress, but still had a pointed Radar dish for a face. The image shattered and turned into an Arcana card, which showed the Lover's Arcana. It spun down and in a flash of blue light it settled inside Rise.

"What is this?" Rise asked.

"That…is your Persona…" Yu said.

"Persona?" Rise said before she collapsed.

"Rise!" Yu said before he caught her and gently helped her to the ground.

"Dude! No fair!" Yosuke complained

"She just completely passed out," Yu said with confusion.

"Who could blame her?" Chie sighed.

Yukiko looked at the Personas who were staring to flicker again

"I think we're all pretty exhausted…" Yukiko said looking at the Persona's who were flickering.

"Hmm…I'm spent too," Yosuke groaned.

"Um-hm…" Kanji agreed.

"There is no 'real me'!"a dark deep voice echoed.

They all turned around and saw a crimson air exude from Teddie, who was still flat yet was somehow standing up.

"No 'True Self'!" The dark voice continued.

"Huh?! Who said that?!" Teddie said, and then he turned around and saw.

"What the HECK IS THAT?!"

"Oh balls!" Kanji said.

"No way!"

"Aw man three in a row isn't fair" Yosuke complained

"Is that Teddie's other self?" Chie asked.

Indeed it was a larger version of Teddie that had yellow, human-shaped eyes.

'Wait, There's something strange about it' Yu thought.

'Indeed something is not right here' Ara Mitama said 'Be careful there is more at work here than just a shadow'

'He is correct be on guard' Titania warned

"SUCH IDIOTIC FOOLISHNESS!" Teddie's shadow grinned and expelled a fog from himself that blanketed the room.

"The truth shall always be shrouded in fog!"

Then a large clawed hand pushed some fog out of the way.

There was now a pit where the Shadow Teddie resided. One eye was now pink and green as there was a large hole on the left side of its head but there was no blood or even signs of anything besides a black void.

Yu gasped as the floor rose everyone ran to get away.

"I am a Shadow of your True Inner Self. Try though you may to find meaning…You willnever know for sure if it is the truth…or a lie."

Then a vacuum began sucking everything into the large void. Shadow Teddie was taking care not to choke the air from then, however he was sucking in everything else. The team held on to nearby large debris that had implanted its into the ground for dear life.

"He's gonna suck us in!" Chie yelled.

"So knowing that…why even bother seeking the truth at all?" Shadow Teddie asked.

"AHHHHH!" Teddie was pulled in to his Shadow vanishing into the darkness.

"TEDDIE!" Yosuke called.

"How can you possibly find something when you don't even know what you're looking for? The truth you seek will only bring you suffering."

"Why do you say that?!" Yu replied.

"Let me impart one bit of truth upon you…YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE HERE!" Shadow Teddie said ignoring Yu.

Steel supports started collapsing from the pull and fell to the ground. Yu pushed Rise to ground and lay on top of her so she wouldn't get hurt or pulled in. Haihane held onto a steel beam near her and held Akitsu close so neither of them would get pulled in.

"Hey!" Rise said, "I've got an idea!"

"What?" Yu asked.

"Just hold Himiko so she doesn't get pulled in!" Rise said.

"What? Himiko?" Yu asked

"Yeah, she's my Persona," Rise said happily.

"IZANAGI!" Yu called out to his Persona who complied with his unspoken order.

Izanagi came over to where Yu was and planted his sword in the ground waiting.

Rise's Arcana floated down and she grasped the corner almost as if it were a flower with a stem "PERSONA!"

Himiko was summoned and Izanagi then moved over to her and planted his sword down and had an arm around the Persona in order to keep her from being pulled in meanwhile Rise wore the scanning visor that came from her Persona. Green Hexagonal energy came from Himiko as she scanned the Shadow.

"There's something else in there" Rise reported "Besides Teddie."

"What is it?" Yu asked

"I can't tell" Rise replied. "The fog's too thick for me to analyse it!"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Teddie was inside his Shadow and was very confused. He was surrounded by the fog but for some reason he couldn't see through it like usual and he was stood on a strange black pool.

"Huh?! What is this place?" he asked unable to see a thing

He kept looking around. When he looked behind where he was his Shadow who was also where Teddie was.

"AHHH! You're here too…"

"This is where you will fade to nothing!" Teddie's Shadow said.

Teddie started sinking into a black pool that he was able to walk on before.

"HMMM!" Teddie began panicking. "WHAAAAAAAA!" he cried as he was pulled in. "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS PLACE!"

"You were NOTHING to begin with!"

"NOTHING?!" Teddie yelled as he kept panicking.

"You have no memories of your past! You are empty. Your entire 'existence' is nothing more than a…"

"I'M NOT LISTENING! I'LL FIND THE ANSWERS MYSELF! YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"

"There ARE no answers to find…"

"I'LL KEEP LOOKING ANYWAY!" Teddie said angrily.

Suddenly Teddie found that he had stopped sinking and his Shadow stared at him silently waiting.

"SEE, I may be empty, but I'm not a useless bear! I don't wanna be lost! I don't wanna leave 'em. I WON'T LEAVE SENSEI AND MY FRIENDS" Teddie yelled as he rose back up slightly.

"You choose this, even though your search for answers will cause nothing but pain?! Your Choice is INCOMPREHENSIBLE!"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"I found it" Rise exclaimed "its right below his chest."

"I'm loosing my grip" Chie yelled.

'I think I know how to get to it' Yu thought however before he could get his command off he felt a pair of lips meet his own 'Akitsu?'

Indeed the ice Sekirei was up again and broken from Haihane. Yu watched as pair of deep blue wings emerged from her back.

"Let me fight for you Master" Akitsu smiled and turned to face Shadow Teddie freezing her feet to the floor to resist the pull "By the ice of my contract my Ashikabi's misfortunes shall freeze. ARTIC SNOWSTORM!"

A large blast of ice began freezing the entire room ahead of Akitsu. The icy wave quickly reached Shadow Teddie and froze him solid causing the vacuum to stop completely.

"Chie, Kanji mark the spot below his chest" Yu ordered as he focused and began a new fusion.

"On it" Chie nodded and sent Tomoe towards the Shadow Teddie icicle. Tomoe delivered and hard kick which caused a crack just below the chest where Rise had indicated.

Take-Mikazuchi quickly followed using his lightning bolt sword to make a hard strike at the spot where Tomoe had kicked creating an X shape in the indent.

Yu as usual envisioned Igor in the Velvet room waving his arm over the table that he placed his cards on. Five cards appeared all face down.

Yu did the same motion, splitting the Fool Arcana and materialize four other cards from his bonds. Underneath Yu there was a large circle that glowed blue with a mask in the centre that was half light half dark. The five cards hung in mid-air one at the top of the circle, one at the bottom, one at the left and the other on the right. Yu merged the cards with a forceful waving of his hands toward the fifth in the centre. A swirl of flames and out of it materialised an incredibly tall well muscled man, if one could call it that. He was a giant who was a head taller than a taller than even Take-Mikazuchi. He had a pair of red eyes and long black hair.

"Wow now that guy is seriously ripped" Kanji nodded.

"Now that's the muscle we need" Chie cheered

"Now go, Hercules" Yu ordered

The persona complied and charged at the frozen shadow who was trying desperately to break free. However the giant Persona reached him before he could even make any real progress and shoved a massive fist into the Shadow breaking through the ice and ripped a large black sphere of some sort out of Shadow Teddie who groaned in pain before Hercules crushed the ball in his hands.

Shadow Teddie gave out a last cry of pain before crumbling away. The floor sealed up and both Teddie and his Shadow reappeared.

"Is it over?" Kanji asked

"TEDDIE!" Yu called out to the bear running over to him along with the others.

"Whoa! Mean grizzly!" Teddie said.

"Teddie! Are you alive?" Yosuke asked.

"HEY WHY AM I FLATTY NOW?" Teddie panicked upon noticing that he was still flat "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BEAR-TIFUL FUR!"

"Well, it looks like he's not keeling over anytime soon," Kanji commented.

"Hard to believe Teddie had a part of himself that he hid from everyone," Chie said.

Teddie turned to face his shadow which was staring down at him with its yellow eyes, as blue static swam over it indicating the damage it had taken.

"Its sad not knowing who you are, and this whole time I was afraid that if I did look, I might not find any answers at all" Teddie said with a saddened look which suddenly changed into one of determination "But even if I didn't find what I wanted I'm still here and I'm still very much alive."

" Yeah I'm with you" Rise said agreeing with the discouraged bear.

"You totally get me" Teddie said turning around to face her flat as a board as he was .

"Lets find our answers together" Rise smiled

"Teddie you are far from alone" Yu stated trying to reassure his friend.

"Oh Sensei" Teddie began tearing up.

"Yeah why not?" Yosuke asked "We'll help you Teddie your part of the team"

Yukiko and Chie both nodded in unison with Akitsu and Kanji made a mumble of agreement while Akitsu and Haihane said nothing.

"You guys, thank you Teddie is such a lucky little bear" The bear began sobbing tears of joy

Suddenly a blue glow caught everyone's attention, they watched as Teddie's Shadow morphed into a large rotund metal being carrying a missile above its head.

Kintoki-Douji

It changed back to Tarot card form and floated down into Teddie's waiting hands where it vanished inside of him.

"A persona?" Teddie exclaimed in wonder "I have my own Persona now?"

" I feel tremendous power coming from it" Rise explained with a smile "Isn't that great Teddie?"

" Yes its Beary Beary good" Teddie said slipping back into his habit of making bear puns.  
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Back when they got to the exit Teddie laid down flat then he started to do sit-ups.

"At least until I grow all my fur back, I'm going to beary myself in training. Just you wait until I make my comeback. It's going to be amazing!" Teddie said. "It'll be a major event, and then you'll be begging for my help again!"

"See you later then Teddie" Yu waved goodbye to the bear.

The others all said their goodbye as they left the TV world. However after everyone Yu stopped short as a thought just struck his mind.

"Hey Teddie"

"Yes Sensei?" The bear asked still doing his exercises

"Do have a spare pair of glasses?" Yu asked "Because I think I'll need another pair for my uncle."

"Sure here you go" Teddie said pausing and handing Yu a pair of gag glasses "They may be joke ones but they should work just fine. They're the only one's I've got at the moment."

"Thanks Teddie see you later" Yu waved goodbye to the bear and exited the TV World.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After escorting Rise home the group had gone their separate ways with the exception of Yu, Haihane and Akitsu who were headed home together.

"Man I'm glad to be outta there" Haihane sighed stretch her arms. "That place was really oppressive. Like I was being squeezed on all sides by something really strong and when I was near that exit it felt like something was pushing me towards it."

"I noticed that too before I faced my shadow" Akitsu said "I got the feeling like I was intruder in a place I did not belong. Almost like the TV world itself was trying to throw me out. The feeling lessened slightly after I faced my shadow but didn't completely go away."

"Really?" Yu asked getting nods from the two Sekirei "the others all felt heavy and uncomfortable down before they got their Persona's but not like they were being forced out near the exit."

"I wonder what that place is" Haihane wondered.

"Maybe Uncle Minaka will have some insight" Yu said looking down at the camera badge that was still attached to his jacket.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Sekirei, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Sekirei fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[07/10 July, Dojima Residence, Inaba]_

Yu was busy spending his Sunday morning in his room having just woken up. It had been nearly two weeks since the gang had rescued Rise and then two days later his Uncle Minaka had called and ordered Haihane and Akitsu back to MBI for examination apparently the excuse given to Dojima was that they were undergoing a through routine health check up that take a about a month or so, apparently someone else would be sent in as a bodyguard in the meantime. Although it had been nearly two weeks since Yu had gotten that call and he got the impression that Dojima was getting suspicious, well even more so than he was before.

Currently Yu had decided to read one of the Manga volume's that Haihane had left behind when his phone rang.

"Why is Chie calling me?" Yu wondered aloud.

"Hello?"

"D-D-Did you hear yet?!" Chie asked nervously.

"Hear what, Chie?" Yu asked.

"They found a dead body just outside the Shopping District!" Chie said.

"Is it Rise?!" Yu asked his blood turning cold.

"No! It's not Rise! They said it was a man in his thirties or something. I don't get it! I mean, we…" Chie paused and took a deep breath "We're all meeting at Aiya come over right away!"

Yu left the house and locked the door. He ran as fast as he could to Aiya.

_'Chie said that the victim was a man which means it can't be Rise.' Yu thought to himself_ 'so _if it isn't her then who is it?'_

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[Aiya, Shopping district, Inaba ]_

When he finally got Aiya's and saw everyone waiting for him outside Yu went over to them and they all went in and ordered their food.

"Damn it…" Kanji pounded his fist on the table "I don't believe it. This blows our theory about our victims being on the news. King Moron's never even been news or TV!"

"Yeah and he wasn't on the Midnight Channel either" Yukiko added

"I can't believe this happened" Yosuke said angrily

"I thought the theory we had was actually pretty good" Chie said downcast "But maybe our idea was just a big coincidence. We've gotta rethink everything. The Midnight Channel might not even be related to the murders."

"It….has to be" Yu insisted.

He was sure that the Midnight Channel was related to the murders somehow. They were just missing something important.

"If it has to be then how come King Moron's dead?" Yosuke demanded snapping at Yu

However before Yu could answer his phone started going off. He withdrew it from his pocket and saw that the caller was….

"Uncle?" Yu said pressing the receive button which caused a video call from Minaka to start

"Hello my boy" Minaka exclaimed excitedly "I couldn't help but over hear your conversation and decided to thrown in my own 'two cents' as it were."

"Wait you were listening? Are you nearby?" Kanji asked with confusion.

"Of course I'm not" Minaka sighed shaking his head "You all neglected to remove your camera's remember?"

They all looked down and saw that they had indeed not removed the camera badges.

"Wait so these were on the whole time?" Chie asked shocked.

"Yes. You ladies should consider yourselves lucky that I'm a gentlemen" Minaka chuckled as Chie and Yukiko's faces went red "Anyway back to the topic at hand; don't be so quick to discard this theory. I have valid reason to believe that you were on the right track."

"What reason is that?" Yu asked

"Simple, just think about the first two murders for a moment." Minaka said "The 'TV World' is a convenient way to dispose of people because when their 'shadow' kills them it leaves no known cause of death upon autopsy. This has happened twice, once to Ms Yamamano and once to Ms Konishi. During this period the killer no doubt thought that he would never be caught. However something unexpected happened when he tried to go after his next few victims. A new factor presented itself. Can you guess what it is?"

"Us" Yu said his eyes widening in revelation

"Correct" Minaka said "Indeed it's all of you"

"Us? What did we do?" Chie asked

"Simple Ms Satonaka. But I'll let Yu field this one" Minaka grinned.

Yu thought for a few more moments and tried to assemble the mental puzzle that his Uncle set before him.

"We've thwarted him three times already" Yu said finally after a few seconds of silence. "If he thought he'd never get caught because he was throwing people into the TV then being stopped three times in a row after feeling like you're invincible must be really infuriating. Maybe even infuriating enough to make him do a kill in our world. King Moron's death is more than murder it's a message he's saying 'Just try and stop me'"

"Very good my boy" Minaka chuckled "I knew you were related to me."

"That bastard" Kanji growled "When we catch him I'm gonna pound his face in."

"However" Minaka continued "By committing such a rash act in anger your killer has doomed himself. He'll have left trace evidence behind DNA, Fingerprints at this crime scene. Also by using the same Modus Operandi when you do catch him he's finished. Between the Fingerprints the DNA and the positioning of the body there will be no way he can escape justice."

"Awesome so we're almost there right?" Chie jumped up excitedly.

"Not quite yet" Minaka interrupted causing Chie to fall into her chair "With all the police around there's a good chance he'll be caught due to the evidence I mentioned. So he might try to hide out somewhere the police can't get to him."

"The TV World" Yu realised.

"Smart boy" Minaka said "Don't bother going now. Anyone vanishing just after a murder would be first person you suspect of committing it. So it's more likely he'll wait a few days before slipping in to hide out."

"We can always ask Teddie" Yukiko said "He might know if anyone's been there"

"Very good" Minaka said "Oh and Yu I need you to drop by what used to be the Hobby shop in the shopping district in order to check up on something there, trust me when I say it's worthwhile. Also worry not I've sent another little bird who should be more than capable of backing you up in the TV World for now. Well toodles…."

With that Minaka ended the call leaving the team to their thoughts.

"Man your uncle is really helpful" Yosuke commented

"Yeah he helped get us a lead and showed us that this isn't over yet" Kanji agreed.

"Hey Yu it's been too long" everyone looked to the door and an saw that the owner of the voice was a girl with a kimono-like shirt with one sleeve missing, and pink hair in a side ponytail with two daisy clips and pink eyes, along with a pair of fingerless gloves on her hands.

"Benitsubasa" Yu greeted the pink haired Sekirei "It's good to see you again."

"You too" Benitsubasa smiled brightly taking an empty seat and pulling it near Yu.

"Everyone this is Benitsubasa" Yu introduced "She's like...Akitsu and Haihane"

Yu was careful with his words because they were out in public but the group understood regardless.

"Cool so what can you do?" Chie asked excitedly

"I'm a fist type" Benitsubasa responded "It means physically I'm stronger than most Sekirei and I specialise in Close Quarters Combat"

"Here's your order" Aika said bring the group each a mega beef bowl.

"Huh?! None of us ordered this!" Yosuke told her

"It's on the house." Aika replied "Normally, we only offer this on rainy days."

"Th-That's..." Yu's eyes widened "It takes Understanding to accept everything, Knowledge to set a good pace, Courage to attack the pile of meat, and Diligence to keep eating. It takes all of that to finish the Mega Beef Bowl!"

"Thanks, but why?" Kanji asked

"Please enjoy." Aika said walking away to the kitchen

"Well, let's chow down." Chie exclaimed

Twenty minutes later the team was slowing down, as the bowl of meat began to defeat them as it had so many others before. However while everyone was so focused on their bowls Yu looked at Benitsubasa.

"Here you have this; I don't think I can finish it." Yu said holding out his chopsticks.

"Are you sure?" Benitsubasa asked with uncertainty "I don't wanna look like a pig."

" Relax" Yu said grasping her hands and putting the chopsticks in them causing her to blush at the contact as well as the warm smile he gave her "I'd never think any less of you because who you are."

"I eat and eat, and I still can't see the rice!" Yosuke groaned leaning back in his chair.

Another twenty minutes later and most of the team was beaten and groaning at their full stomachs, however none of them had even approached the halfway points.

"Seriously, what's with this monster?" Kanji asked

"At least we made a dent in it... I think." Yukiko said looking into her bowl

"Can we get seconds over here to go?" Yu asked causing everyone to look at him.

Their jaws all dropped as they saw an empty bowl in front of Benitsubasa who had to their shock had beaten the unbeatable mega beef bowl challenge.

"No way" Kanji muttered

"Awesome" Yosuke exclaimed

"That's so cool you beat it." Chie exclaimed to Benitsubasa who gave her an uncertain look.

"Yeah...uh...I need the energy so a meal like this is no problem for me" Benitsubasa mumbled a bit of red colouring her face.

"I think you're amazing for being able to do that Benitsubasa" Yukiko complimented

"Thanks" Benitsubasa said pink tinging her cheeks as she avoided looking at them before looking at Yu who gave her a thumbs up.

"That'll be three thousand yen each from the rest of you" Aika said tonelessly shocking everyone save for Yu and Benitsubasa

"What?!" Yosuke exclaimed "You said it was on the house."

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[Junes, Inaba ]_

After finishing paying for their food the team decided to go Junes to check up on Teddie and stopped when they three employee's hanging around the electronics department.

"Oh, Yosuke perfect timing. Some guy named Doug Teddie is here for you" one of the salesmen said.

"What? Doug Teddie?" Yosuke questioned.

They ran over to the massage chairs and sure enough, sitting on one was Teddie being massage by the chair.

"OHHHHH! This is Amazing!" Teddie said through the vibrations of the chair.

"Woah he's here" Chie exclaimed

"This chair is pretty bear-ific" Teddie sighed.

"You look very comfy there" Yu said.

"What the heck are you thinking coming here?!" Yosuke demanded.

"It's about time you guys showed up" Teddie said "I've been waiting."

"You can leave the TV?" Yukiko questioned

"Who knew that could happen" Kanji commented.

"Yeah of course I can leave the TV, There is an exit!" Teddie said in a 'duh' tone of voice "It just never actually crossed my mind to try and use it before. But after spending so much time with you guys I wanted to come and see you in your world."

"Yeah well that happens" Yu deadpanned

"Yay I just knew that you would understand me Sensei" Teddie said "Oh someone asked me what my name was so I said Duh, Teddie."

"Doug Teddie got it" Chie sighed

"Listen Teddie there's something really important we need to ask you" Yosuke said

"Yeah what?" Teddie asked

The gang grabbed Teddie out the chair and took him out to their usual table in the food court.

"You're absolutely positive that no one's been inside the TV since we were there?" Yosuke asked

"Yes how many times do I have to tell you yes!" Teddie yelled with annoyance "I made a full recovery all by my bear-some self

"Man if King Moron never went into the TV set then…" Yosuke trailed off

"Then uncle was right" YU said "He was killed in our world, which in theory should mean that it's easier to catch him because he would have left fingerprints and DNA behind."

"Uhhh, I'm BEARY hot! I need to take my head off," Teddie complained sweat somehow forming on his costume.

He then began to remove his head before Yosuke grabbed him

"NO! You've got kids watching! It'll scar them for life if they see an empty mascot!"

"Get off" Teddie yelled shoving Yosuke off of him "Besides it's not empty anymore!"

"Stop!" Yosuke said.

Teddie unzipped his head and popped it off, everybody save Benitsubasa who was confused gasped in surprise Just as Teddie had said he wasn't empty anymore, Inside was a bare-chested blond-haired boy covered in sweat.

"Whoa! NO WAY!" Chie exclaimed.

"AHHHH…Much…BETTER!" The boy said.

The boy picked up a bottle of water to drink and then he started chugging.

"AH! Now that hit the spot!" The boy said sounding refreshed.

"Teddie?" Chie asked, in shock.

"Yup it's me…" Teddie confirmed.

"How?"

"I grew a body, because I wanted to score with Yukiko, Chie, Akitsu and Haihane!"

The girls sweat dropped.

"Speaking off" Teddie turned his attention to Benitsubasa "I haven't seen you before how you doin?"

"Benitsubasa was struck speechless; she wasn't quite sure whether to punch Teddie or to be embarrassed over the attention.

"You grew a body…to score?!" Chie choked.

"I really do wish we could drop that subject" Yukiko grumbled.

"By the way, are there any clothes around here?" Teddie asked "I'm as naked as a new-born baby right now."

Yukiko and Chie blushed and grabbed Teddies lower fur and kept it covered as the three ran inside Junes presumably for the clothing department.

"Dude grew a human inside himself?" Kanji asked raising his eyebrow

"Good for him" Yu said.

"I'm totally freaked out" Yosuke said "What kind of a bear is that?"

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[North Shopping district, Inaba ]_

Yu, Benitsubasa, Yosuke and Kanji were all stood outside a store in the northern shopping district. Currently they were all eating topsicles in order to cool down after spending so much time in the summer sun.

"Mmm-MMMM! It's finally the season for topsicles again," Kanji said.

"Dude, how many are you gonna eat? You're gonna get a stomach ache." Kanji was eating one topsicle while holding another.

After a while Chie and Yukiko finally showed up.

"Sorry, we're late…" Chie gasped.

"How'd it take you that long to find clothes for Ted?" Yosuke asked.

A blond boy walked up in a white silk shirt with the collar and first two buttons below open, exposing part of his chest. There were ruffles running down either side and there was a rose pinned to his chest. He wore black slacks that if it wasn't made of silk, it looked close. He was wearing black short boots.

"Whoa! Teddie, is that you?" Yosuke asked.

"Oui, Monsieur! How do I look?" Teddie replied while seeming to sparkle.

"C'est Magnifique!" Yu grinned.

"Don't encourage him…" Chie grimaced.

"This is wrong, look who are you really?" Yosuke asked in disbelief.

"Look I didn't believe it at first either but trust me it's definitely Teddie." Chie said. "In fact he's so much like Teddie it's annoying."

"He went totally berserk in the ladies lingerie department" Yukio elaborated.

"You think so?" Teddie asked

"Listen dude, If you're gonna unzip and turn into a human then you've gotta control your impulses okay?!" Chie snapped

"But it's my first time here" Teddie said looked down.

"Look we're not mad" Yukiko assured him "we're just giving you advice."

"Thank goodness I thought that maybe you two hated me now." Teddie said bouncing back from his depression pretty quickly.

"By the way, where's Teddie's other head?" Yosuke asked.

Yu looked confused for moment before it dawned on him. Teddie's head was still back on the table at Junes.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Nanako looked around June's before spotting what she was after. Country pickled raddishes.

"Yay two left" Nanako reached for one before a hand grabbed both and shoved them in there basket.

"Hey kid they're mine you gotta problem with that?" he demanded causing Nanako to step back in fear "Don't be rude, you little brat. You do not want to make me mad. Cause if you do then"

Kubo reached for Nanako who was paralysed in fear, only for his hand to be grabbed by another.

"Hey, what the hell?" He looked and saw the owner of the hand was a pink haired girl with a side pony tail wearing a kimono-like shirt with one sleeve missing, and two daisy clips in her hair and pink eyes, along with a pair of fingerless gloves on her hands. "Let go of me bitch"

This was the wrong thing to say as the girls grip only tightened causing an audible crack to be heard.

"I think you need a lesson in manners towards women buddy" Benitsubasa said her smile never dropping

"Ow damn it let me go you bitch" Kubo demanded trying to break free.

"Nanako are you ok?" Yu asked appearing from down the aisle.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks big bro" Nanako replied "Who's this?"

"This is Benitsubasa" Yu introduced "She's like Akitsu and Haihane."

" Oh, before I forget" Benitsubasa retrieved both Radishes from Kubo's basket and tossed them into Nanako's "Don't worry he won't mind will you?"

Before he could say anything more Benitsubasa put her other hand over Kubo's mouth and used her strength to force him to shake his head. She then tightened her grip on him and dragged him out of the store causing him to drop his basket. Her destination was a back alleyway with no security camera's...or witnesses.

"It's alright they're just going to…talk" Yu said holding Teddie's empty head which he had retrieved from the Food Court.

"Thanks big bro" Nanako said looking up at him "But tell me what are you doing here?"

Yu thought for few seconds before his anger cleared away and he remembered that he'd left Teddies head unattended once again. However after grabbing it he decided that should help Nanako with shopping and escort her home.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Eventually Yu and Benitsubasa returned to the store that gang was waiting outside of with Benitsubasa hanging off his arm with a cheery smile on her face, although Yu suspected that she may have enjoyed the weirdo who harassed Nanako as a form of stress relief. From the time he'd spent with her he knew she was a shy and sensitive girl who could be very rough and tough with anyone who wasn't him. It didn't help that Haihane kept teasing her about the size if her chest.

"My beautiful head!" Teddie exclaimed gleefully taking it from Yu "Thank you, Sensei"

"Isn't it great that you're no longer empty?" Yu asked Teddie.

"Yes…But I still don't know who I am…" Teddie said sadly, before changing his expression as Yu put his hand on Teddie's should

"Let me help you with your search" Yu said "We'll find your inner you"

"Geez, fine here." Yosuke handed Kanji a 1000 Yen bill. "Buy whatever Ice cream and candy you want…Just share it with Teddie."

"You're RICH!" Teddie said.

"He is the Prince of Junes!" Yu chuckled.

"We're going to head for the Tofu shop. Just wait here."

"I can't just take this from you, Yosuke-senpai!" Kanji said with surprise.

"Nice job Yosuke that was very mature" Chie said apparently trying to butter Yosuke up. "Oh…I get it…you may say differently, but you're still nice to Teddie."

"Huh?" Yosuke was confused that Chie was being so pleasant to him.

"I recognise that tone" Benitsubasa murmured to her Ashikabi "Minaka uses it whenever he's screwed up and needs Takami to fix it."

"Sounds about right to me" Yu sighed putting his hand on his face.

"You know it's really nice to see you're grown up side." Chie nodded trying still trying to butter Yosuke up "Thank god you're an adult, because adults never sweat the small stuff."

"You're up to something, so what is it?" Yosuke asked suspiciously sweat dropping at Chie's words.

"Well you see Teddie did need clothes so we charged them to you." Chie admitted nervously

"WHAT?! Hold on, you mean I'm paying?! How the hell did I get volunteered for that?" Yosuke demanded angrily

"What else were we supposed to do?! That stuff was expensive, even for Junes!" Chie yelled getting just as angry.

"Woah hot stuff there's no need to fight over-" Teddie was cut off by Yosuke

"You shut up, this is all your stupid fault you know" Yosuke yelled before turning back to Chie.

"Come one let's go get some topsicles" Kanji said to Teddie.

"Ok give me one sec" Teddie said before handing Yu a pair of pink glasses "Here these are for Rise."

Teddie then ran off to catch up with Kanji.

"Ummm…it looks like they might be a while so why don't we go one ahead to the Tofu shop?" Yukiko asked

"Sure, let's just leave them be" Yu said bringing Benitsubasa along with him.

"I'm with you" Benitsubasa said as she followed.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

As they walked and left Yosuke and Chie to argue, Yu, Yukiko and Benitsubasa all stopped short when they saw a familiar face staring at the tofu shop. It was a boy wearing a blue hat that had been hanging around Inaba the past few months.

"Hey that's the boy that was talking to Kanji both before and after he got kidnapped right." Yukiko pointed out.

"Yeah it is and we talking to him for clues when Kanji went missing." Yu said

"I bet he's here for more questions, great just what we needed a snoop" Benitsubasa grumbled.

"So you did come here today" the boy said turning to face them when he noticed their presence "

Chie and Yosuke stopped arguing when Yosuke noticed the boy and pointed it out to Chie.

"Here to try and win over Rise Kujikawa next?"

"Narukami" Yosuke and Chie ran over to see what was going on.

"Ah, so you're all here, I haven't properly introduced myself to you." the boy said. "Naoto Shirogane, detective, I'm currently helping the local police with the investigation of the serial murders."

"You're a detective?" Benitsubasa asked raising an eyebrow.

"That's right" Naoto replied "Actually I'd like to ask your take on something."

"What is it?"

"Our latest victim Kinshiro Morooka, I believe he was a teacher at your school?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Chie asked.

"The second victim Saki Konishi also attended your school. The media is way too focused on that right now but it's irrelevant. There is something far more important to consider"

"Yeah, so what? Stop beating around the bush." Yosuke demanded impatiently

"Your Mr Morooka was not on television before he died. Isn't that interesting?" Naoto said eyeing Yu suspiciously.

"Alright look here buddy, I think you've been watching one too many cop shows." Benitsubasa suddenly lost her patience and walked over to Naoto and prodded him in the solar plexus causing him to stumble back a few steps and grunt in pain "The only reason you'd be telling us this at all is because you've got no leads and the only pattern you can see is one that matches a theory only you can see and nothing more. So unless you've got some evidence then get lost and don't bother giving us the 'I'll be watching you' line. Because even if you will be watching you'll get nothing from it, so why don't you make like a drum and beat it already?"

"Very well, I just want to close this case as quickly as possible." With that Naoto walked off down the street before going around a corner and out of sight.

"What's with that guy" Yosuke asked.

"Nice one getting rid of him Benitsubasa" Chie complimented.

"No problem, that guy's a jerk anyway." Benitsubasa grumbled

"Oh….hi" everyone turned around to see Rise who was looking well.

"Rise it's you, are you feeling better now?" Yukiko asked

"Yes I am" Rise replied brightly "Who're you? My name's Rise Kujikawa it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Benitsubasa, nice to meet you too I guess" Benitsubasa said reluctantly

"Are you all here to check up on me?" Rise asked

"Well, yeah..." Yosuke began but was cut off by Rise.

"Oh, um...Do you guys mind if we go somewhere else?" Rise asked cutting Yosuke off "My grandma's taking care of the shop today and she might get worried if she overheard us talking."

"Sure lead the way" Yu said

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[Tatsuhime Shrine, North Shopping District, Inaba ]_

Rise had lead the group up the stairs and to the nearby Tatsuhime shrine, where they with the exception of Kanji and Teddie all gathered around Rise who was recounting what happened to her before winding up in the TV world.

' _Nothing says inconspicuous like six teenagers talking at a shrine_ ' Thoth said sarcastically ' _Nope, nothing suspicious looking going on here'_

"Oh man this sucks, so you have no idea who pushed you inside the TV?" Yosuke asked with a sigh.

"That's right I just remember waking up when I was on the other side." Rise explained

"That's the same story for Kanji and me too." Yukiko said

"Umm….listen" Rise nervously shuffled from one foot to the other.

"What is it?" Yu asked

"Thanks for saving my life guys" Rise said gratefully "I'm happier than I've been in forever.

"Huh...? Awww, you don't have to thank us!" Chie laughed nervously

"Dude...She's so cute...Man, it's finally hitting me that you're the real deal. You really are Risette." Yosuke sighed going into fanboy mode.

"So what do you think? Can I help you all find this guy?" Rise asked.

"Sure I think it would be great to have you on the team." Yu said walking over to Rise and handing her the pair of glasses that Teddie gave him earlier.

"Thanks" Rise said taking the glasses and putting them on. "These are proof that I'm one you now, they're great just like the ones you guys were all wearing."

"Yup you're officially one of the group." Yu said giving her a smile.

"I'm so glad we're all friends" Rise said

"Dude I'm friends with Risette finally my teen years don't totally suck." Yosuke cheered.

"Yo. How's it going?" Kanji greeted them "Dude, Teddie ate five topsicles, though if you count the ones I had before, that makes six, so I still win."

"No one asked..." Yosuke sighed

"We're all done talking already!" Suddenly Rise latched onto Yu's arm "Let's go, Senpai!"

"Hey back off bimbo" Benitsubasa yelled shoving Rise off gently

"Who are you calling a bimbo?" Rise demanded

"You, he's mine and you can't him." Benitsubasa growled as the two got in each other's faces.

"Er….what's going on?" Kanji asked

"Never mind them where's Teddie?" Yosuke asked as the two girls continued their argument with Yu caught in the middle.

"He's over there, finishing up his fifth Topsicle. What are we gonna do with him?"

"Well...I guess I'll take him home..." Yosuke sighed

"Oh yeah and how do you plan to make me?!" Rise demanded

"By proving that he's mine!" Benitsubasa growled.

"And how are you gonna do that? I think he's gonna move on to 'bigger and better' things" Rise said smugly thrusting her chest out for emphasis.

"You bitch, everyone knows that quality matters not quantity" Benitsubasa yelled.

"Big talk but that's all it is talk." Rise said "I don't think you can prove that he's yours"

"I can and will right now." Benitsubasa yelled.

Benitsubasa whipped around to face Yu grabbed his collar and brought his face down to her level and kissed him on the lips. Out her back emerged several pillars of red light which extended outwards before fading away after a few seconds.

"W-what the.." Rise was stunned

"Crap, I hope no else saw that" Yosuke panicked looking around for witnesses but seeing none.

"What's going on?" Rise asked "What was that?"

"I promise that I'll explain but first we need to get to the hobby shop" Yu said "I get the feeling my uncle needs us there for a reason."

"Yeah okay" Rise said still stunned.

The group quickly decided to leave the shrine and went began making their way towards the hobby shop. However after they were gone an individual wearing a blue hat emerged from behind a tree near the entrance to the shrine.

'I followed them hoping to hear something but I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, and I could risk moving without being spotted.' Naoto thought 'But that girl Benitsubasa, she's strong and what were those that came from her back when she kissed Narukami? They looked like pillars of wings made of light. What are they up to? And just what have I stumbled onto?'

After getting it together the detective continued following Narukami and his group, albeit at a distance.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After reaching the Hobby shop the gang saw that it had undergone a complete redesign, the winds were now sealed with thick heavy metal shutters. Even the door was nigh impenetrable made of equally thick metal. Yu was surprised that all of this redesigning had been done in only two weeks.

"Huh, so this what the Hobby shop looks like now?" Chie asked "Man your uncle really went all out on redesigning this place. "

"Yeah tell me about" Kanji sighed "There were lots of people here mostly during the day time redesigning the outside, at night I think they mostly did the inside. There were all sorts of guys all sorts of big machines and stuff inside, at night. They even came and apologised for any noise they might be making at night. But the noisiest it ever got was when one guy dropped something heavy on his foot."

"So how do we get in?" Yosuke asked

"It looks like an Iris Recognition lock" Benitsubasa said pointing to the machine next to the side of the door. "It's better than ID card locks because those kinds of things can be stolen. But it's harder to steal someone's eyes."

"Oh yeah, it uses the unique patterns iris as sort of ID" Yukiko said "I think I read up about it once."

"Yeah if you want to get you'll have put eyes into the scanner." Benitsubasa stated.

"Wait a minute; is my Iris pattern in this scanner's recognition system anyway?" Yu asked

"Do you really have to ask how Minaka got your Iris Patterns?" Benitsubasa deadpanned "Or more importantly do you really want know?"

Yu thought for second before shaking his head and putting his eyes into the scanner. A red light shone in his eyes for a few seconds before a computerised voice spoke.

"Iris Pattern Recognised" a beep of confirmation chimed and the sound a heavy lock coming undone sounded form the door. "You are cleared to enter."

The Heavy Metal door then swung open and the group entered, the door sealed shut and locked behind them. They failed notice a certain blue hat wearing detective watching them enter the highly secured building with narrowed eyes.

As soon as they entered they all heard a voice that was familiar to Benitsubasa and Yu yelling at another quieter voice. Yu and Benitsubasa sweat dropped before going through the door into the room the voice was coming from. When they did they saw Haihane and Akitsu both stand in a glass tube attached to a machine of some sort.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LET ME WORK YOU EGOTISTICAL NUTCASE?!" Takami screamed at Minaka who was currently talking to her via a giant monitor on the wall.

"NEVER!" Minaka yelled with zeal "You have seen the footage from that world, seen what my nephew has done. He has been blessed by Izanagi and Amaterasu that means that the gods are with me, I AM ON THE RIGHT PATH I TELL YOU. THE AGE OF GODS IS ALMOST UPON US!"

'I want to talk this man' Izanagi growled 'How could he possibly know what I'm thinking?'

"Er...Narukami?" Yukiko whispered.

"Yeah?" Yu whispered back.

"Um...Amaterasu's not very happy with your uncle she's demanded to come out and talk to him." Yukiko whispered

"Don't worry knowing Minaka and this lady, it'll end in a few seconds" Yu said

"Hey Akitsu, Haihane, I thought you guys went back to MBI?" Yosuke asked approaching them while the gang tried to ignore Takami's yelling at Minaka's ranting.

"Well technically we did, but then we were sent here to the new Inaba lab that captain crazy wanted to set up." Haihane explained "Apparently he wants to study that TV World place but since neither he nor Takami can go through the TV and for some reason we can't either without help that's partly why your here. Apparently they want to set up machines to gather info on that place."

"Do these two do this a lot?" Kanji asked looking at Takami and Minaka.

"Yup" Haihane said "If I'm right then Takami should snap in three...two and one"

Just as Haihane predicted Takami had enough of Minaka's ranting and promptly put her fist through the monitor cutting him off.

"Damn that crazy son of a..."

"You only destroyed the monitor on your end" Minaka's voice said gleefully through the speakers.

Takami growled and stormed over to a wall and picked up a sledgehammer that seemed to be left over from construction and promptly smashed the speakers effectively silencing Minaka.

"I hate him" Takami growled dropping the sledgehammer before looking behind her and realising that she was being stared at by seven teenagers and three Sekirei and sweatdropped at the attention.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

After regaining her composure Takami had ended the awkward silence by handing Rise an NDA form and filling her in on the Sekirei after the idol signed it. Takami had Kanji, Yosuke, Teddie and Yu transporting the equipment into the TV World and following her instructions on how to assemble it which she directed in person after Teddie gave her a spare pair of glasses.

The TV as Haihane had said, was bought from Junes and moved into a large living room like area with a few sofas as well as what seemed to be scanning equipment pointed at the TV.

Apparently she had agreed to go to the TV World so she could collect the data disks from the machines which contained the results of the data the machines had scanned from the TV World. It had taken a long while to assemble of the equipment in the TV World as well as transport the portable generator to power it all.

When the heavy lifting was all done everyone exited the TV World and returned to the TV Room joined by Haihane and Akitsu, where Takami had taken to stroking her chin after sticking her hand into the TV a couple of times.

"Interesting, the ability to enter the TV World stays with humans who have been taken through at least once but not the Sekirei" Takami said thoughtfully "I wonder why, just what is it about that world that seems to reject them?"

"That world rejects them?" Yosuke asked with confusion.

"Yes, both Akitsu and Haihane complained about the feeling of being squeezed while in the world and while they were near the exit they felt like they were being drawn towards the exit, almost like something was trying to get them to leave that place." Takami replied "Also neither of them exhibited this ability to stick any part of their bodies through the TV like it was a portal. It's like something is trying to keep them out of that place which raises even more questions."

"So whoever or whatever is responsible for us being able to go inside the TV really doesn't like the Sekirei being there." Yu said observantly.

"Correct" Takami said "That's why Akitsu and Haihane will be staying her for the next couple of weeks for tests and thorough examinations so that I can determine whether or not that world has a negative effect on the Sekirei."

" _A wise course of action_ " Thoth commented " _It's best to find out if there are long term effects on the Sekirei as soon as possible and if it is harmful for them to be there."_

Yu thought on this for a moment, he knew he'd never forgive himself f he'd brought harm to either Akitsu or Haihane and clenched his fist, as he did this Yu's eyes widened as he felt something be crushed in his hand.

A swirl of blue flames erupted from Yu causing everyone in thee room the shield themselves instinctively. When the flames died down everyone's eyes widened as sitting next to Yu on the arm of the sofa was a white furred baboon wearing ancient Egyptian garments with a book in its paws.

"Well I must say I didn't expect to be the first Persona summoned out here" Thoth said quirking its eyebrow at Yu who simply sent him a look of surprise which was nothing compared to shocked looks and hung open mouths of the others.

"I-is that a monkey?" Chie shrieked.

"Excuse me, I'm a baboon for your information" Thoth corrected her indignantly "And Second of all I am the Persona Thoth."

"Thoth" Takami parroted "The Egyptian God of the Moon, Magic and Writing?"

"Correct, although I am a Persona, think of me like a mirrors image of the deities, heroes, monsters, demons, amongst other beings. To sum up I am not the deity himself." Thoth explained.

"Fascinating" Takami said talking over to Thoth and bending down to be eye level with him "I thought Persona's could only be summoned in the TV World, so how are you here?"

"Search me" Thoth said with a shrug getting a few facefaults.

"None of the rest of you can summon your Persona's?" Takami asked

She received a collective negative from the group and returned her attention to Thoth.

"The only thing I can think of is that winging the Sekirei has started to stimulate his Ashikabi genes in such a way to make this phenomenon possible. But don't quote me on that it's only a theory." Takami stated.

Yu's mind drifted briefly to a certain perverted Persona who had not spoken up in a while which was unusual for him.

"I know what you're wondering" Thoth said looking at Yu "And the Persona you're thinking of, we got sick of him and chained him up after gagging him. We're taking turns keeping an eye on him, Titania's on duty right now if I recall."

" _I am_ " Titania sighed " _At least this way Incubus won't be as annoying, with any luck he won't escape_ "

"Doctor Sahashi I think we should get back to the tests" Haihane pointed out "If we're quite through monkeying around."

"I'm a baboon" Thoth said giving Haihane a withering look which she snickered at.

After the gang got over their shock at Yu's ability to call his Persona's out in reality and a bit more interrogation by Takami who was very interested, The team left the MBI lab and all went their separate ways home, still unaware that a certain blue hatted detective was watching them.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[07/11 July, Class 2-2, Yasogami High, Inaba]_

"So is the story true about King Moron…?" One girl asked.

"Yeah…I saw it on the news…" Another girl said.

"More importantly is it true that Risette has transferred to our school?" A boy asked eagerly

The door opened and a woman walked in, she was wearing slightly open button down blouse, tights, well-coiffed hair and high heels.

"Well now, good morning" A sultry voice said. "I'm Noriko Kashiwagi …I'm your new homeroom teacher and I'll be taking the place of the late Mr. Morooka's, nice to meet ya. I don't mean to dive right but I should remind you that the finals are next week. Please don't let my bewitching looks distract you from your studying."

"From King Moron to Kashiwagi…It's scholastic whiplash!" Yosuke muttered to Yu.

"Akitsu's bigger." Yu murmured on impulse.

Benitsubasa who had transferred in to school and had been introduced to the class by the principal because their teacher not present yet. Yu did not notice the pink haired Sekirei clench her fist.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"Ugh! I don't know what to do about exams!" Yosuke complained.

…

"We can all study together, Yosuke" Yukiko said

"Yukiko…" The team all stared at the voice, both Yu and Benitsubasa narrowed theirs eyes upon seeing its owner him. It was the strange kid who tried

"I remember him from yesterday" Yu said, stomping the urge to summon one of his Persona's in public to teach this guy a lesson, if only to avoid causing a panic.

"Didn't this guy get the message I gave him yesterday" Benitsubasa growled with annoyance.

"You again…" Chie growled remembering him from a couple of months ago.

"Come on…come with me Yukiko…" the strange boy said "Come to my world!"

He put his hand on Yukiko's arm, the girl tried to pull away but his grip was firm.

"Yo! Back off!" Chie yelled pushing the boy off Yukiko.

"You keep out of this!" the boy growled "Yukiko! You'll come with me, won't you? Right?"

"Um? Who are you?" Yukiko asked

"Sheesh, you've totally wiped this freak from your memory." Chie sighed

The strange boy looked crushed, that Yukiko had forgotten him.

"Are you messing with me?!" The boy demanded "Huh?"

"Alright pal its time for you to leave" Benitsubasa said standing between him and yukiko

"Bitch, get the hell out of my WAY!" the boy roared and lunged for Benitsubasa punching her with all his might in the face.

The punch seemed to hurt him more than it did Benitsubasa, whose head didn't move a single inch even when the fist made contact.

"You know at a time like this I really have only one thing to say to you." Benitsubasa stated batting the boys arm away casually and walking closer to him "Bitch Slap!"

Benitsubasa quickly slapped the boy in the face with such force that he flew backwards and landed on his ass outside the gates.

"Aghh" the boy groaned in pain and spat out a glob of blood before standing up "Y-you bitch you'll pay for that."

However before he could charge and get hurt by Benitsubasa again Kanji appeared and stepped in.

"What's going on? What do you want with Yukiko?" Kanji demanded

"You…You MORON!" the boy found his and ran off… "You'll regret this, you and that bitch."

"Pfft, asshole" Benitsubasa scoffed

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[07/23 July, Junes, Inaba]_

Two weeks seemed to come and go quickly, Yu was not worried at all. The exams had been a breeze for him thanks in part to studying hard in his free time and getting plenty of sleep. He knew that pulling an all nighter was in fact not a good study method, because sleep was needed to process information.

So the group had decided to meet at the Junes Food Court after the exams had finally ended, Yu had told the group to go on ahead when he spotted Adachi in the entrance to Junes and approached him.

"Are you really Dojima's Nephew?" Adachi asked as he smiled mischievously "You seem to be too fun to be around for that."

" _Isn't he a little bit too much of a clumsy slacker to be a cop?_ " Pixie asked

"You sure have a lot of time on your hands. I feel like I keep seeing you around" Adachi said with a wistful sigh "But I guess that's what it's like for a high schooler. Enjoy it while you can."

"Are you slacking off again?" Yu asked bluntly

' _Enter Yu Narukami, master of subtlety_ ' Clotho quipped sarcastically.

"I wouldn't put it like that. Taking breathers is part of the job. It's all about efficiency." Adachi stammered coming up with an excuse as his face fell "Everyone needs rest from time to time. And today, that old woman hasn't found me yet..."

' _Translation: yes I am slacking off but don't say it so loudly_ ' Cu Chulainn chuckled.

"Hmm? Where did you go, Tohru?" The old woman asked appearing as if on que

' _Now that is what I call timing'_ Leanan Sidhe commented

"Oh, geez, not again...Did she bring me more nimono?" Adachi whined.

Yu simply watched as the old woman approached a middle aged looking man whom he presumed was her real son.

"I'm right here mother" the man called to her "Did you finish your shopping?"

"I surely did. Let's go home. You're here for the first time in ages, I have to...Oh, why hello, Detective! Tohru, this is Adachi. He's a police detective."

"Hello. I hear you've been good to my mother."

"Eh, no problem" Adachi said politely with a smile that Yu could tell was fake on his face.

"This is Tohru, my son. He's in town to see me." The old woman explained

"Hahaha, well, I'm really here for my job. I have to go back in a few days, though."

"Don't make an old woman sad, dear. Though it's good to know you're working hard." The Old woman nodded "Tohru works at a trading company. He takes lots of business trips overseas. So young and he's already a manager!"

"Haha, come on, mother." The middle aged man laughed "We're probably getting in the way of his work. Let's go home, okay?"

Yu and Adachi could still hear their conversation as they walked away.

"I'm going to make lots of your favourite, nimono." The old woman told her son.

"That's great! Make sure the renkon is a little tough." The Middle aged man requested of his mother

"Of course, dear." The old woman replied.

Eventually their voices faded away until they could no longer be heard.

"Guess it doesn't have to be me." Adachi sighed and thought for a moment that he had a sad look on his face "So that's the real one...We don't look a thing like each other! We're not even close in age. I think the only thing we have in common is our name! But as long as he's here, I don't have to talk to her, so that's a relief."

"Does it make you sad?" Yu decided to ask finally

"Me? Sad? Why?" Adachi asked smiling "I like being alone. It's easy, and it lets me do whatever I want."

"That's true, I suppose" Yu didn't necessarily like being alone but he could understand where Adachi was coming from.

"Hahaha, you're so cold for a kid. But that's the smart way to be. You can't be around tons of people and feel bad every time they do." Adachi chuckled

Yu sensed that Adachi felt a little bit sad, he also felt his bond with the detective strengthen a bit more.

"Adachi!" Dojima yelled interrupting and appearing the lobby "So here's where you were."

"Aah! D-Dojima!" Adachi panicked

"Hmm? Oh, it's you." Dojima sighed noticing Yu with Adachi "Don't waste your time playing with high school kids! Let's go! Sorry he kept you like that. Go on home."

"Hey, wait! Dojimaaaaa!" Adachi yelled as Dojima simply ignored him and walked out of Junes.

Yu raised an eyebrow at the scene while keeping a smirk off his face. His Persona's were not as restrained with their amusement and most of them were openly laughing, thought he could feel the amusement of the silent ones like Izanagi and Titania.

' _Dojima never gives that guy a break_ ' Pyro Jack chuckled.

' _We should try to see him again_ ' Pixie commented ' _He may suck as a cop but he's a great for a laugh._ '

"Did he just apologize for me?" Adachi asked taken aback "Well see ya Dojima's waiting"

With that Adachi ran off in pursuit of his partner leaving Yu who stared after him for a few seconds before going to join his friends at the Food Court.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"AHHH Exams are over!" Yosuke said.

"Speak for yourself,. Why do we need to learn English? If I have to I'll use auto-correct!" Rise said.

"I don't think that's the point" Kanji sighed.

"So Senpai…How did you do?" Rise said.

"My pen wouldn't stop moving," Yu said confidently.

"Wow! That's Impressive!" Rise said.

"So where's Teddie?" Yukiko asked changing the subject.

"He's been staying at Yosuke's house as far I know" Chie said "

"Oh him, we have him working as a Mascot to earn his keep." Yosuke said pointing at the end of the food court. Teddie was in his bear costume handing out balloons to the kids, laughing and talking with them.

Teddie had handed out all the balloons and then noticed the others. He came over to them.

"What's up guys?" Teddie asked "If you're hunting studs again I'm right here"

"That's IT! That subject is OFF LIMITS!" Yukiko cried in annoyance.

"Sorry Ted, this is more like a group date than some sleazy pick up joint." Yosuke said. "There's even one girl for every guy, or in some cases two girls."

Yosuke gave a glance at Benitsubasa who was clung to Yu's arm while secretly giving glances to Rise who bristled jealously.

"There'll never be a group date with you involved" Chie waved him off.

"Well even if did have a group data somehow or another King Moron would find out and start screaming at us" Yosuke said.

"but King Moron is gone…" Yu pointed out.

"He was an ass," Chie said.

"I didn't like King Moron either …but he didn't deserve to die like that."

"I don't think anyone liked that creep." Yosuke sighed. "But man, NO ONE deserves to go out like that."

"Alright everyone we've got to catch this guy, for King Moron's sake and all everyone else's sake too" Yu said.

"Yeah, I know the Midnight Channel hasn't been airing lately, but we can't quit." Yosuke said.

"Oh I think you should" a voice said.

They all turned to se that it was Naoto.

"They know who the culprit is. You're done. Let the police do their job from here."

"They figured out who the murder is. Who is it?!" Chie said.

"They didn't choose to fill me in on that." Naoto stated "but what I do know is that he is a high schooler just like we are."

"The killer's a high schooler?" Yukiko asked.

"You realise what this means. So the little game you were playing is now over…" Naoto said.

Everyone, including Teddie bristled at that.

"We weren't just playing around," Yu said narrowing his eyes at Naoto.

"Listen creep this was far from a game!" Rise said.

"So you don't deny your involvement?" Naoto questioned calmly.

"I don't care if you're a detective or" Rise said. "Especially when it seems like this is no more than a puzzle to you. You're the one who seems to be treating it like a game not us. "

"This game took the life of someone I cared about. We aren't just playing around" Yosuke said. "Besides we have a promise we have to keep."

"Y-Yosuke?!" Teddie's eyes grew teary.

"You think I'm playing?" Naoto said "maybe to a certain degree. I am"

"Tell me, what's a big detective doing slumming it here with us?" Yosuke asked teasingly. "Did they find the killer without you and tell you hit the road?"

"They haven't caught the killer yet; they just know who it is and are after him." The detective paused. "It's sad that once they're through with me I haven to move on, but that's the way it goes, I'm used to it."

"Yeah whatever" Kanji scoffed

"Well, I must be going now," with that Naoto turned and left.

"Is it true? That they have a suspect?" Rise asked.

"Does this mean that our group is finished?" Yukiko asked.

Yu heard that and looked shocked, sensing her Ashikabi's distress Benitsubasa decided to interject.

"Have you guys forgotten already?" Benitsubasa asked standing up and fixing everyone with a glare. "The Killer can go to the TV World remember? It's more than likely that he'll hide out there so we should watch the Midnight Channel on Tuesday night when it's due to rain. If the image comes on and it's clear then we'll know he went in there to hide out like Minaka said."

"She's right" Kanji said standing up "We have to check up just in case."

"So? Tuesday night then?" Yosuke asked looking around and getting nods.

"Thank you" Yu said giving Benitsubasa a grateful smile that made her melt inside.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

_[07/26 July, Dojima Residence, Inaba]_

The clock was nearing midnight when Yu sent a text to Takami instructing her on how to watch the Midnight channel, the clock struck midnight then TV came on.

"You all think you can see me? You all think you know everything about me?" The boy on the screen with his back against a wall said. "Then try and catch me."

After a few moments Benitsubasa crept into the room quietly to avoid disturbing Dojima and Nanako who were asleep. She had been watching the Midnight Channel downstairs.

"It's that creep from the other day" Benitsubasa sighed.

Yu answered his phone which was ringing.

"Did you see that?" Yosuke asked

"Yeah, tomorrow after get our exam scores let's head over to the lab and go get him." Yu said.

 


End file.
